but by his substitutes, Noah and others) to the spirits in prison (those wicked men of that age, prisoners to sin and captives to iniquity) which were disobedient, and had exhausted the Tong suffering of God in the days of Noah while the ark was preparing, that is, the full term of one hundred and twenty years." Stephens's Serm. v. 1, Serm. 9. See Whitby, also. But, to give a farther interpretation of the apostle's words, the order in which they are delivered is this; first Christ was put to death, then quickened and raised again, and after that he went and preached. Now, what Christ did by his apostles and ministers may be said to be done by himself; but how the preaching of the apostles to the unbelieving Jews and Gentiles is applicable to the spirits in prison, on whom the long suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was preparing, this is the question? But this difficulty may be easily solved, if, in the passage before us, we do but suppose there is an ellipsis, a figure very common in Scripture; and then the words. are, by which, &c. as in the days of Noah; where, by the insertion of the word as, the apostles meaning is made clear and the comparison to this effect: as God heretofore shewed an extraordinary patience and mercy to the people of the old world by giving them the space of one hundred and twenty years to repent in, which almost all neglected except a few persons, who gave ear to the divine admonitions and so escaped the destruction of the flood; so Christ was pleased to give proof of his singular kindness towards the disobedient Jews and Gentiles, to whom he sent his apostles to re'claim them from their wicked courses and call them to repentance. But they, rejecting this message, continued in their wickedness, all except a select number, who, having embraced the Christian profession, were saved by baptism, even as a few antediluvians were preserved by the ark. Stackhouse on the Creed. See Limborch, also, Per spiritus hîc intelligit incredulos tempore Noachi, quos spiritus vocat, quoniam, cum scribebat, non erant homines integri, sed separatæ a corporibus anima; quas Scriptura spiritus vocare solet, ut Ps. xxxi. 6, Matt. xxvii. 50, &c. minime vero animas: nam eo nomine potius aut ipsos homines significat; ut Gen. xlvi. 15, 26, &c. aut etiam ipsorum cadavera, ut Lev. xix. 28, et xxi. 1, 11, &c. Gerhardus, &c. Pocle's Synopsis. But see Bishop Horsley on Christ's descent into hell, under article Descent. PROTESTANTS so called from several princes and the deputies of fourteen imperial cities, in Germany, protesting against a decree published by the States of Germany, assembled at Spire, on the 15th of March, 1530, revoking a former edict which allowed libert of conscience, as they alleged it had been productive of great mischiefs. Mod. Univ. Hist. vol. xxvi. p. 299. The Cardinal of Lorrain, at the council of Trent, made a long discourse concerning bishops and the means of preventing abuses in their elections, inveighing severely against against PLURALITIES, though he himself then possessed church-revenues to the amount of 1,000,000 of livres a year. Mod. Univ. Hist. vol. xxvi. p. 354. The false notions and unjustifiable practices which crept into the church in early times, in the fourth century, were the forerunners and introducers of POPERY. As, first, an immoderate esteem for celibacy and virginity, for a retirement from the world, for voluntary poverty and voluntary austerities. 2dly. The inflicting of pains and penalties upon those who differed in their religious opinion from the majority. 3dly. The practice of collecting relics, of digging up the bodies of real or imaginary saints and martyrs, and depositing them with great solemnity in holy places. 4thly. The use of pious frauds, founded upon this pernicious principle, that it is lawful to deceive the common people for their good, and for the advancement of religion. Scarcely can any one father of the fourth and fifth centuries be named, who was free. from this blemish. 5thly. An adoption and imitation of pagan rites and ceremonies, partly introduced to allure the pagans to Christianity, and to amuse them with solemnities to which they had been accustomed. 6thly. The encroachments of the bishops of Rome, which began in the fourth century, if not sooner. Jortin, vol. vii. p. 415. A PATRIOT is a religious man, who employs himself in serving the public, and a good citizen is one who loves God and his neighbour. Whosoever neglects his duty to God cannot perform his duty to the public in a complete and effectual manner.. There are, as there ever have been, men who have little religion, and yet some share of what we commonly call honour and public spirit, who would not injure their nation for private advantage, and would risk their fortunes or their lives for their country. Yet these persons often do more harm another way, by their immoralities, by setting a bad example, and corrupting the minds of men, than they can compensate by intrepidity, generosity, and honour. But, in reality, a patriot without religion, and an honest man without the fear of God, is one of the most uncommon creatures upon earth; and unhappy are the people who have nothing better to trust to than to the honour of such counsellors and magistrates. Let revenge, or ambition, or pride, or lust, or profit, tempt the man to a base and vile action, and you may as well hope to bind up a hungry tiger with a cobweb as to hold this debauched patriot in the visionary chains of decency, or to charm him with the intellectual beauty of truth and reason. Jortin's Sermons, vol. i. p. 120. Sacerdotes indocti populo prodesse non possunt, improbi non volunt. Necesse est ut PASTOR animum scientia excolat, et scientiam moribus, ut gregem ad salutem ducere queat per viam fidam præcepti, et viam brevem exempli. Non tam vocein quam vitam sacerdotis, normam virtutis credunt homines. Linguam eniin venalem existimant, et scholam potius quam hominem sapere. Vide Isidorus Pelausiota, lib. ii. Epist. 235. Spencer. DECEM PERSECUTIONES. Ima, sub Nerone, an. U. C. 817. An. vulg. Christi 63 2da, sub Domitiano, an. U. C. 834. 3a, sub Trajano, anno U. C. 860. An. vulg. Christi 80. 4ta, sub Aurelio Vero Antonini philosophi collegâ orta in Asia, anno U. C. 919An. vulg. Christi 165. 5ta, sub Severo, anno U. C. 955. An. vulg. Christi 201. 6ta, sub Maximino, anno U. C. 986. An. vulg. Christi 233. 7ma, sub Decio, anno U. C. 1002. An. vulg. Christi 249. 8va, sub Valeriano, anno U. C. 1010. An. vulg. Christi 257. 9na, sub Aureliano, anno U. C. An. vulg. Christi 274. 10ma, sub Diocletiano, anno U. C. 1049. An. vulg. Christi 296, et duravit 10 Voss. Univ. Hist. annos. 1027. It is observable, that, in the ten first great persecutions of the Christian church, the principal promoters and abettors of them were, in their violent and untimely deaths, remarkable instances of divine vengeance. Stackhouse on Creed. The custom of kissing the POPE'S TOE seems to have had its rise from a similar practice of that cruel emperor Diocletian, who, (as Vossius informs us, Univ. Hist.) dulci fortuna ebrius, ita se extulit; ut quum imperatores antehac judicium more salutarentur et purpureâ chlamyde ab aliis differrent, ille dei instar vellet adorari, gemmas vestibus: et calceis insereret, pedesque salutantibus osculandos præberet." -- The author of the anonymous notes on the PSALMS, in Mr Merrick's annotations, supposed to be Archbishop Secker, has this observation on Psalm xl. 6, and Hebrews,, x. 5. "It is not certain that the apostle argues from the word aux at all. He quotes the translation of the LXX. as he found it in his copy, lays a stress on what is. in the Hebrew, but none on the rest, either knowing it not to be there, or being restrained by the Spirit of God from making use of it." Quere. Does not the great stress of the apostle's argument lie in the opposition he so strongly points out between the legal sacrifices mentioned in the fifth and eighth. verses, and the offering of the body of Jesus, in verse 10? And does not this rather give countenance to the proposed emendation of the text in the Psalm by Pierce, Lowth, and Kennicot, who would read mi, tunc corpus, instead of 8, aures ? See Poole's Synopsis. Unless we may proceed to a farther alteration, and read лns ? אז for Nulli PURGATORIUM PAPALE plus debet, quam Gregorio Papæ, qui in dialogis magno conamine agit, ut probet purgatorium ex spirituum apparitionibus. Cum tamen mortuos nequaquam consulendos esse præcipiat Deus, Deut. xviii. 11, Jes. viii. 19. Quadringentis Quadringentis vero ab Gregorio annis Johannes 18, sive aliis 19, quo pro animabus in purgatorio oraretur, festum instituit, severeque id coli præcepit. Tandem quoque purgatorium a Synodo Florentinâ inter capita fidei relatum fuit anno 1439. Voss. de Statu Anim. Qu. 4a. There happened a remarkable conjunction of the five PLANETS, in China, on the same day in which the Sun and Moon were in conjunction, which was observed by the emperor himself. And the great astronomer Cassini calculated this conjunction backward, and found it to have happened in the constellation Xe, or Che, mentioned by the Chinese historians, when the Sun was in the twentieth degree of Aquarius, on the twenty-sixth day of February, in the 2012th year before the Christian æra. See Louber's Hist. of Siam, p. 257. Jackson's Chronol. vol. ii. p. 440. At Birdlip, (Gloucestershire,) on Thursday night, (February 14, 1766,) a PEACOCK belonging to Mr Gibbs was frozen on the branch where it was at roost. The branch, broke, and in the morning the bird was found almost dead with the cold; and the ice congealed to its tail weighed near 100 lb. See Gentleman's Mag. February, 1766. And it is a certain fact, that as many branches were broken off from one elm-tree, which stands in the centre of Chipping-Norton, Oxfordshire, by the weight of the ice, as were sold afterwards for twelve shillings; and every tree and shrub were so incrustated with ice that they looked like so many glass chandeliers, The same sort of weather happened almost a century before. See Philosoph. Trans. vol. i. or ii. PROPHECY was a business in which the intellect of the man, under the control of the inspiring spirit, had an active share; and accordingly the composition owes much of its colouring (but nothing more) to the natural genius of the writer. And hence it is that such a variety of style is found in the works of the different authors of the Old Testamenty all equally inspired. Horsley on Isai. xviii. p. 79. See Inspiration. This observation is also applicable to the writers of the New Testament. I confess that I have no sort of reliance upon a triennial PARLIAMENT. Perhaps, it might rather serve to counteract than to promote the ends that are proposed by it.. To say nothing of the horrible disorders among the people, attending frequent elec tions,. I should be fearful of committing, every three years, the independent gentlemen of the country into a contest with the treasury. For, unless the influence of government in elections can be entirely taken away, the more frequently they returni the more they will harrass private independence. With great truth I may aver, that I. never remember to have talked on this subject with any man, much conversant with: public business, who considered short parliments as a real improvement of the consti-> tatlon Burke, vol. i. p. 487.... J G. g 2 It It is no inconsiderable part of wisdom to know how much of an evil ought to be tolerated; lest, by attempting a degree of purity impracticable in degenerate times and manners, instead of cutting off the subsisting ill practices, new corruptions might be produced for the concealment and security of the old. It were better, undoubtedly, that no influence at all could affect the mind of a member of parliament. But of all modes of influence, in my opinion, a PLACE under the government is the least disgraceful to the man who holds it, and by far the most safe to the country. I would not shut out that sort of influence which is open and visible, which is connected with the dignity and service of the state, when it is not in my power to prevent the influence of contracts, of subscriptions, of direct bribery, and those innumerable methods of clandestine corruption which are abundantly in the hands of the court, and which will be applied as long as these means of corruption and the disposition to be corrupted have existence amongst us. Our constitution stands on a nice equipoise, with steep precipices and deep waters upon all sides of it. In removing it from a dangerous leaning on one side, there may be a risk of oversetting it on the other. Every project of a material change in a government so complicated as ours, combined at the same time with external circumstances still more complicated, is a matter full of difficulties, in which a considerate man will not be too ready to decide, a prudent man too ready to undertake, or an honest man too ready to promise. They do not respect the public nor themselves, who engage for more than they are sure that they ought to attempt or that they are able to perform. Burke, vol. i. p. 488. Archdeacon PALEY published three sermons, the first at an ordination, preached at Carlisle, 1777; the next at an ordination at Carlisle, 1781; and the third at the consecration of Bishop Law, at Dublin, 1782; in which he advances many heterodox opinions relating to church-government, subscription to articles, &c. which strictly deserved censure. For, in the first sermon, p. 13, sect. iv. he has this very extraordinary passage: "The conversion of a grown person from heathenism to Christianity, commonly intended in the epistles, was a change of which we have now no just conception, (of what use then is the Society for promoting the Gospel in foreign parts?) and might well admit those strong figures and significant allusions by which it is described in Scripture; a regeneration, a new birth, to be born again of God and of the Spirit, to be dead to sin, and alive from the dead, to be buried with Christ in baptism, and raised together with him, &c. But these expressions are nothing, nothing (that is) to us, nothing to be found or sought for in the present circumstances of Christianity. Now, if the sin against the Holy Ghost can be committed in this age of the world, surely this is it? And ought not young divines to be most strictly cautioned against such dangerous tenets? (See the title of his first serm.) For, if there be no assistance of the Spirit of God, Christians are now in a worse situation than the Deists. For, as it is granted by this writer himself, (see his Evidences, vol. ii. p. 32,) "That the morality of the Gospel |