their Heart by occupying the Imagination; with an Hymn annexed to each Difcourfe. The whole by the Rev. Mark Anthony Meilan. 12mo. 3 vols. 9s. London, 1789."

After fo copious a title page, we have only to remark how far the execution is equal to what the author profeffes. It is but juftice to admit that the difcourfes are all adapted to the age they are intended for. They are all fhort, eafily comprehended, and much pains is evidently taken to avoid any difcuffion of those doctrinal points which are fuited only to riper years.

ART. 27. An Apology for the two Ordinances of Jefus Chrift, the holy Communion and Baptifm. 8vo. 1s. London, 1790.

This apology is written with great acutenefs and force of argument. Mr. Applegarth, the author, had originally been of the fect of the Quakers, but afterwards joined the communion of the Church of England. He combats the doctrines of the celebrated Barclay with much ingenuity, and clearly establishes the celebration both of the holy communion and baptifm upon the authority of the New Tefta ment. We can perceive in the Apology fome glimmerings of afperity against the fect which Mr. Applegarth has abandoned; but they lead him into no intemperate invectives, and ferve only to enliven his refutation of their principal doctrines.

ART. 28. The Influence of Chriflianity on the Condition of the World; a Sermon preached in Trinity Chapel, Conduit Street, Sunday, December 13, 1789. By Thomas Coombe, D.D. 8vo. Is. Cadell.

London, 1790.

Of this difcourfe it is not eafy to fay whether elegance of compofition, or its fublimity, be most entitled to our praife. It is thus that the labours of the head, and the feelings of the heart, ftrong reafoning, and refined fentiment, may be united and difplayed with fuccefs in establishing the gofpel. And the author of this masterly production fets a laudable example of his attachment to the cause of religion, by avowing himself, in fuch an age of fashionable infidelity, a ftrenuous advocate for its truth, from a serious conviction of its gracious and benign influence on the prefent condition of the world.

ART. 29.

A Vindication of the Honour of God, and of the Rights of Men in a Letter to the Rev. Mr. De Coetlogon, occafioned by the Publication of Mr. Edwards's Sermm on the Eternity of Hell Torments, 12mo. 6d. Printed for the Author, and fold by Johnson. London, 1789.

In human concerns we say, fummum jus fumma injuria; but, without requiring any allowance in the Deity for human weaknefs, it is difficult to conceive any crimes committed in this life which cannot be expiated by torments continued for a finite feries of ages. This has appeared fo reasonable to the generality of mankind in all ages, that the idea of eternal torments has ever been a matter of doubt or concern to all true believers, and of fcorn and ridicule to infidels.

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At length the fanction which a late learned divine has given to the doctrine of the final reftitution of all things, has had the deference paid to it which fuch a character and the reasonableness of the doctrine entitled it to. But the gloomy fpirit of a fect that has almoft existed by its declamatory damrations, muft ever be averse to an opinion which would deprive their difcourfes of more than half their efficacy.

Mr. Clarke defers entering very minutely into the texts adduced from fcripture in favour of the old opinions, to a larger work, which He fays is ready for the prefs, and which we hope will foon make its appearance.

ART. 30. A Sermon preached in the Chapel of the Afylum, on Sunday Morning, March 29, 1789. By the Rev. Septimus Hodfon, M. B. late of Caius College, Cambridge, Minifier of Tavistock Chapel, Long-Acre, and Chaplain in Ordinary to the Prince of Wales. 8vo. Is. Cadell. London, 1789.

Mr. Hodfon being accufed by fome anonymous writer of having preached at the Afylum a probationary fermon ftolen from Dr. Ogden, very modeftly apologises for obtruding himself on the public as an author, in order to obviate fo unjust a calumny. The well-known moral character of Mr. Hodfon might have rendered his affertion fufficient; but the peculiar delicacy of his fituation, at that time a candidate for the chaplaincy of the Asylum, made him conceive fomething more might be neceffary. He therefore requests his accufer to move for his [Mr. Hodfon's] perfonal attendance before the guardians of the Afylum, to produce his manufcript, and that the faid accufer will come forward with the volume from which he suf

pects the fermon to be ftolen. As a farther challenge he propofes the guardians fhould require an affidavit that the fermons printed are in fubftance the fame as thofe preached; and that they were compofed by Mr. Hodfon, without the affiftance of any fecond perfon whatfoever. The event fhews how well fatisfied the majority of guardians were.

Of the Sermon we fhall only fay that, confidering how hacknied the fubject is, it is far above mediocrity. The fentiments are juft, forcibly expreffed, and fometimes new; the language is ftrong and expreffive; the periods round and flowing. The addrefs to the guardians, as fuch, is moft happily conceived.

The profits of the Sermon are appropriated to the benefit of the charity.

Dr. Newton, Bishop of Briftol.

For

For the ENGLISH REVIEW.

NATIONAL

AFFAIRS

For MAY, 1790.

THERE was never a more fudden TRANSITION from the profpect of peace and a growing revenue, to that of war with its concomitant difficulties and expence, than has happened in the course of these few weeks; for it is no longer, fince the minifter, on the great occafion of defcribing the ftate of the nation, spoke as if we had now arrived at that happy period when all additional burthens were at an end, and when an accumulating finking fund would, by a rapid operation, liquidate the debt already contracted by the nation. Scarcely were the panegyrics on the minifter, in confequence of such glad tidings, pronounced, when he again comes to parliament, and announces the probability of a war with Spain. His political adverfaries did not fail to expofe him, by urging that he either forefaw the probability of a rupture with Spain, when he opened the budget, or did not. If he did foresee it, why, for the fake of a pleasing delufion which a short time must destroy, did he not then declare it? If he did not, where were all our foreign ambaffadors, where that vigilance and fagacity that ought to diftinguith the minifter of a great nation? Motions were made, in both houses, for the production of fuch papers as might point out, if not in all cafes the fubftance, (which, it was confeffed, might in certain cafes be improper), yet the dates of the intelligence that he had received concerning the movements of Spain. These motions were, and in our opinion wifely, negatived. On this occafion the conduct and character of the minifter were examined, as might be expected, with unusual ftrictness and severity. The fair profpects on which he had refted his merit and fame, peace and a reduction of the public debt, were ready to vanish; diftrefs and new debts ftared us in the face; the infincerity of the minister, which had been manifested on some former occafions, was, on this, tinctured with a degree of puerility. The habit of diffimulation had grown upon him fo ftrong, that he exercised it even when it appeared to be unneceflary. Such was the language of the adversaries of Mr. Pitt.-On the other hand, it was contended, that as Mr. Pitt was not refponsible for the motives that might urge the Spaniards to hoftilities against England, fo neither would it be prudent to declare even the dates of the intelligence concerning their movements. A compliance with a fimilar motion, in the course of the laft war, as was well observed by the Duke of Leeds, had dried up a very material fource of public intelligence. The apparent inconfiftency between the different ap

pearances

pearances made by the minifter in parliament, and the withholding papers, might feem to give his adverfaries a temporary triumph; but their triumph would not be lafting. The grounds on which he acted would be juftified by events, and the dif clofure of facts at a proper season.

Men of candour and moderation neither joined the adherents of Mr. Pitt in their exaggerated praises, nor his adverfaries in their zeal to scrutinife his conduct with regard to the point in question, and to inveigh against his general character. The great crifes of nations, whether profperous or adverse, depend on caufes beyond the reach of ftatesmen and princes. As Mr. Pitt ought not, by any affociation of ideas or illufory power of the imagination, to be confidered as the author of bleffings that fpring, under Providence, from liberty, commercial habits, enterprise, and extenfive capitals; fo neither is he to be charged with the neceffity of warlike preparations, nor called upon prematurely to give an account of his conduct as a war-minifter, even before the war has commenced. A higher power than any political CHIEF or fovereign, muft be acknowledged both in

the funfhine and the ftorms that lour or fall on nations. Setting afide, therefore, the adventitious circumstances of war or peace, we ought to draw our conclufions concerning Mr. Pitt folely from the premises of his own actions. But this is a fubject on which we fhall not at prefent enter. The opinion that is entertained of Mr. Pitt by the public will be fhewn by

THE DISSOLUTION OF THE OLD AND ELECTION OF A NEW PARLIAMENT.

Concerning this fubject there are various and contradictory reports and conjectures. What feems probable to us, at the prefent moment, is, if the minifter, on the return of the meffenger from Spain, foresees nothing but war, he will diffolve the parliament as foon as poffible; that is, in the course of two, or at most of three weeks. If room is left, or fhall appear to be left, for negociation, he will put off the diffolution of parliament until he fhall have afferted the honour of Great-Britain by fome conceffion or apology from Spain, which may maintain, or, as fome would fay, reftore his popularity, and enable him thereby to call a general election with advantage.

THE THREATENED RUPTURE WITH SPAIN

Is a fource of endless reflection and conjecture. The Spaniards, who were not difarmed by the precipitate peace of 1783, continued to increase their strength both at sea and land. The ceffion of Minorca, the Floridas, and the whole Mosquito Shore, inflamed the pride of a nation that refted the glory of their monarchy very much on the boundless extent of their ter

ritory

ritory, and who, with arms in their own hands, faw the British nation immersed in commerce, and her minifter placing his ftability and glory chiefly in the accumulation of revenue; an object from which, they imagined, he would not be eafily diverted. They took an emphatic proteft against the fettlement of the English at Nootka Sound, a portion of that coaft of which, in confequence of a famous papal bull, they claimed the exclufive property. In the mean time, the ftorm that had been for fome years gathering against the House of Bourbon, in the centre of France, had begun to fall, and fome prelufive drops announced a general commotion, not only in the colonies, but on the con tinent of Spain. In thefe circumftances, the courts of Verfailles and Madrid, it is natural to conjecture, wifhed to divert the attention of the people from the claims of men, to drown the murmurs of difcontent in the din of war, and, by ftrengthening the military power, to confirm the royal prerogative.-If

GREAT BRITAIN,

According to prefent appearances, fhall be dragged irresistibly into a war with Spain, it is difficult to conceive any cause, or any circumftances, in which nation could contend with nation. with greater glory and advantage.

1. The English nation, in maintaining their right to fettle a colony at Nootka Sound, affert a right in which all mankind are concerned, and determine, in the face of the attentive world, a grand question in the law of nature and nations. The earth is the common inheritance of man. Each individual has a right to poffefs and cultivate an equal fhare. But where, and what the extent of that share, is to be determined only by occupancy and labour. It is vain and fruitless to oppose to a maxim fo obvious to common-sense, and confonant with univerfal custom, ideal rights derived from vicinity of fituation, or the charm of landing on a defert shore, and hoifting a flag, or erecting a column, in the name of any particular monarch. Rights, founded on fuch circumstances, are as indefinite in their extent as chimerical in their nature; for who shall determine the point to which the magical occupancy of the pillar or the pole fhall extend? and what line fhall circumfcribe the indefinite parage? Still more abfurd, if poffible, is the idea of a right founded on a grant, four hundred years ago, by an arrogant and ignorant hierarch, whofe muni cent donations, if he had really poffeffed them, the acknowledged sphericity of the earth would have turned into indelible ridicule.-Though men, by entering into fociety, and partaking of its advantages, fubmit ther natural rights to fuch regulations as may be established for the general good, yet they can never be understood to have wholly renounced them. An equal fhare of land is the birthright of