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present day, which was not satisfactorily answered by Origen near sixteen hundred years ago. The infidel's employment, since that period, is most aptly described by à Christian poet in the following lines:

"He gleans the blunted shafts that have recoiled,

And aims them at the shield of truth again."

Mr. Cunningham has made a judicious arrangement of his materials. He collects the objections of Celsus, and the refutations of Origen, under the following heads :The History and Writings of the Jews; the Scriptures; the History of Christ; Miracles; Character of the early Christians; Doctrines of the early Christians. It is not our intention to follow him through these several divisions. On the last head we will merely remark, that the objections of Celsus as clearly prove that the doctrine of justification by faith was held by the first Christians, as the writings of the present Bishop of Lincoln prove that this tenet is held by a body of men, whom he calls the evangelical clergy. We will lay before our readers the whole of Mr. Cunningham's conclusion, which will both put them in possession of his general argument, and furnish them with a specimen of his style.

"Having thus noticed, in succession, the several topics which are chiefly insisted on in the work before us; and having endeavoured to deduce from each, the distinct evidence in favour of Christianity, which it seemed to afford, it remains only to sum up the general testimony thus borne to our religion.

"Let the evidence be first considered, which arises from the concessions and objections of Celsus. In the first place then he proves the existence of the Scriptures in his own times, he relates some facts extracted from them, and he corroborates many others, which would otherwise stand upon their unsupported authority; and thus he authenticates both the religion, and the Bible.

"In the next place, as Celsus is usually considered the most subtle and malignant of the assailants of Christianity, the weakness of his assault discovers the difficulty of the CHRIST, OBSERV. No. 124.

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Fourthly, His wary suppression of some circumstances incontrovertibly established by the authority of other persons, of much evidence which strengthened, and many writers who had served the Christian cause, betrays his conviction that such facts could not be promulgated with safety to his argument.

"Let us turn next to the reasonings and the reply of Origen, and to the evidence for Christianity supplied by them.

"In the first place, as the infidel may find in the objections, all the weapons by which he is now accustomed to assault religion, so the believer may find in the answers of Origen, the shield which has re

pelled, and is sufficient to repel them for

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The firm faith of such a man as Origen, at a period when the evidence of Christianity lay most open to a scrutiny, is no small testimony of the truth of the religion.

"The very rashness which is charged, and justly charged upon Origen, is so far satisfactory, that it assures us, the friends of Christianity, however injudicious, could open no avenues of attack through which the most dextrous adversaries could successfully essault the citadel of our faith.

Finally, The effect wrought upon the character of Origen, and his contemporaries, to which he continually refers, at onee gives weight to their testimony, and vindicates the claim set up by Christianity, to a Divine efficacy accompanying its doctrines. Let Origen himself be examined. Such was his superiority to worldly attraction, that he was content to live and die, a humble catechist at Alexandria. Such was bie devotion

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tion to the sacred cause, that he sold his possessions for a daily allowance that would enable him to pursue the duties of piety and usefulness, without distraction. Such was his zeal, that he is said to have bequeathed to his fellow-creatures six thousand volumes, the fruits of his own labour. Nor is his character a solitary instance, upon the annals of Christianity. The great mass of individuals who drank at or near the fountainhead of the religion, were evidently made whole. They were animated by another spirit, and quickened into another life. 'Old things passed away, and all things became new. It was moreover in the power of these men to examine the sources of objection which were opened to them by Celsus; this they had certainly done, but their belief gathered strength by enquiry, and they sealed their testimony by their blood. We have in their conduct a proof of the impression which the arguments of Celsus made on their minds.

Paganism began to tremble, when she saw that the new religion was not only a new creed, but a new power; she anticipated her own downfall when she exclaimed,See how these Christians love one another.' This evidence is peculiar to the Gospel. By this, under the Divine aid, it ascended the throne, and grasped the sceptre of the .world. By this it will continue to conquer, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against

it.

"Upon the whole, the reply of Origen to Celsus may be considered as one of the most valuable legacies of antiquity. The importance of the subject; the talents of the contending authors, the ample evidence it affords to our faith, claim for it our earnest consideration; the errors of Origen are such as a little sagacity may correct, his merit will ever be confessed, while religion shall need an apology, or talent and piety have any claim to admiration. It is true that the revolution of ages has afforded, as might be expected, to truth additional evidence, and to error fresh refutation. So much however was effected, in their distinct enterprizes by the early enemies and friends of Christianity, that the vanity of unbelievers should be subdued, by discovering most of their objections to have been before advanced, and the faith of Christians should be confirmed, by knowing them to have been long since refuted." pp. 49-55.

We shall only add, that we have ourselves perused Mr. Cunningham's work with great satisfaction; that it furnishes honourable testimony both to the extent of his reading, and the correctness of his theological views; and that we hope that this, our author's first essay, will prove but the prelude to farther labours in the same cause.

REVIEW OF REVIEWS.

Review of Dr. MARSH's Inquiry, &c. IN our Review of Dr. Marsh's Inquiry into the consequences of neglecting to give the Prayer-book with the Bible, in our last number, we find that we have, at p. 180, inadvertently mentioned the name of Mr. Simeon, as if he were a member of the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge; whereas, in fact, he does not belong to it. This circumstance, however, will be found not to weaken but to strengthen the argument, if it shall turn out, as we believe it will, that, with his own unassisted means, Mr. Simeon has done more to distri

bute the Liturgy than Dr. Marsh himself, though backed by a powerful society *. But the argument, after all, does not rest on the conduct of any individual. At the same time, we have no doubt, that if an investigation were to take place, it would be found, that the members of the Society for promoting Chris

Since the above was written, there have

appeared Four Discourses, by Mr. Simeon, on the Excellence of the Liturgy, preached before the University of Cambridge, in November 1811, which are prefaced by an Answer to Dr. Marsh's Inquiry. Both the

sermons and the answer are well entitled to Dr. Marsh's serious consideration.

tian Knowledge, who are also members of the Bible Society, have been among the most extensive contributors to the general diffusion of the Liturgy.

In our Review, pp.181 and 182, we have considered Dr. Marsh as taking too secular a view of the Liturgy, and as too much disposed to send it forth into the world authorised and accredited as an Act of Parliament. We ought here to have anticipated a rejoinder on the part of Dr. Marsh, stating that he has admitted the Bible to be the sole basis of the Church of England (p. 13), and that be has occasionally insinuated, that other sects and opinions derived from the Bible, have been so by means of the perversion or false interpretation of the sacred text (pp.5,10, &c.) But let any man read the pamphlet, and attend to the general impression made upon his mind. We shall be much surprised if any single person, the author himself excepted, will deny, that its general effect is that of placing the Liturgy, at least far too much, on a level, as to intrinsic worth, with the veriest excrescences and eccentricities that have deformed and libelled the name of Christianity. We have no doubt the result of the whole will be to leave the reader under an impression of the political authority of the Liturgy infinitely beyond its theological claims on our respect. And this is, we pronounce, ipso facto, an affront, an injury, a disrespect to the Book of Common Prayer, leading, we are bold to say, to the most pernicious consequences. We take this opportunity of adding, that the argument we have employed on this subject is not wholly an argumentum ad hominem, or a retort of the charge of disrespect towards the Liturgy upon those who have brought it against the Church members of the Bible Society. It is more: it is intended as an actual proof, that the possession and study of the Bible, even separately considered, has a tendency to prepare the mind, and bring it insensibly forward to a respect for the principles

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of the Church of England; and, consequently, that the Bible, so given or received, will make both giver and receiver more attached to the Liturgy, and more inclined respectively to bestow or to accept that boon also. Thus, in our humble opinion, the habit of giving Bibles alone from one Society, so far from diminishing, may be considered as likely to increase the respect for the Liturgy, though obtained from another source. And of this effect we presume ourselves to be instances, when, in spite of our zeal for the Bible Society, and quite independently of the present argument, we have been found maintaining as above, with Dr. Marsh, the necessity of the Prayer-book standing in company with the Bible -a necessity, we argue, still more likely to be asserted, in proportion as Bibles shall be obtained to illustrate, and hold up to view, the beau tiful conformity of our incomparable Liturgy with the principles of Scripture; and in proportion also as a more extended knowledge of that conformity will make men anxious to guard more carefully than ever against other, and therefore false, interpretations of the great standard of truth.

But should Dr. Marsh still press his argument for the "natural and necessary tendency" of the Bible Society to supersede, in our estimation, the necessity of the Prayerbook, by too liberal a distribution of Bibles alone from one particular source; should he press it in opposition to the FACT of the prodigiously increased circulation of the Prayer-book; should he urge it in opposition to the argument by which we have endeavoured to prove that the Bible alone (and we now speak of it as alone) has a greater tendency to make Churchmen than Dissenters, and in opposition also to the suggestion which might still be added, that the importance of a man's own church and system will be very much in his esteem what it was be fore, though he may have received

additional means for establishing the ground of this low and distant

and extending the basis on which it rests; nay, finally, should Dr. Marsh still hold his argument, in the face of his own admission, that the Bible is the basis, and the sole basis on which the Liturgy of the Church of England actually rests, why then we say it becomes, in the strictest sense of the words, a matter of opinion, not of argument: it must be left as an important call upon the Professor, to weigh the small probability of mischief, that even he can maintain on this head, against all the certain and incomparable advan tages of the Bible Society, as it is; and having narrowed his stand to

contingency, shaken as it is on all sides by fact, by argument, by his own admission, and by the tremendous comparison we have, in fine, suggested to his consideration, we must now leave him on this point, in full possession of his argument, sole and undisputed lord of his imaginary domain.

Illà se jactet in aulâ olus, et clauso ventorum carcere regnet. We must now take our leave of this subject for the present, purpos ing, however, to resume it as soon as we can probably in our next month's number.

LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL INTELLIGENCE,

&c. &c.

GREAT BRITAIN. Is the press;a work on the general, moral, and natural History of a considerable Part of India, where he resided many Years, by Mr. James Forbes, F. R. S.;-A History of Bengal, from the earliest Period of authentic Antiquity, to its Conquest by the English in 1757, by Professor Stewart, of the East India College A volume of the Elements of Chemistry, by Dr. Davy;-A fourth and fifth volumes of Tales of Fashionable Life, by Miss Edgeworth ;-A work on the Life and Administration of Cardinal Wolsey, by Mr. Galt;-Dialogues on the Mieroscope, by the Rev. J. Joyce; Sketches of Cottage Characters, by the Author of the Antidote to the Miseries of Human Life; - A Voyage round the World, by command of the Emperor of Russia, in the Years 1803 to 1806, in the Shipy Nadeshda and Neva, commanded by Capt. Von Krusenstein; translated by R. B Hoppner, Esq.;An Essay on the Misrepresentations, Ignorance, and Plagiarism of certain Infidel Writers, by the Rev. R. Walpole-An Outline of Arguments for the Authenticity of the New Testament, and a short Account of the ancient Versions and some of the principal Manuscripts, by J. F. Gyles, Esq.;-And, A new edition of Dr. Owen's elaborate work on the Epistle to the Hebrews, by the Rev. G. Wright,

Preparing for publication: A new work on the Jurisdiction of Justices of the Peace, and on the Duty and Power of Parish Officers, by Mr. T. W. Williams ;-A History of the European Commerce with India;

History and Antiquities of Fulham and Hammersmith, by Mr. Faulkner, of Chel sea-A new History of all Religions, by Mr. Bellamy ;-A Journey into Albania, Romelia, and other Provinces of Turkey, during 1809 and 1810, by J. C. Hobhouse; —An Account of the Attempts of the Indian Bramins to invest their Gods with the Honour of the Messiah, by the Rev. Mr. Maurice And, A volume of Tales, to publish uniform with his other Works, by Rev. G. Crabbe.

CAMBRIDGE, April 3.-The following are the subjects for the Members' Prizes for the present year: Senior Bachelors.-De Philosophia Platonica Distinctio et Judicium.

Middle Bachelors.-Utrum præcepta a Rhetoribus tradita veræ Eloquentiæ profuisse an nocuisse dicendum est ?

Mr. Wilson has produced a stereotype edition of Johnson's Dictionary, in 8vo. remarkable for the beauty of its typography. It contains several thousand new words, distinguished from Johnson's by an asterisk.

Real value, for a series of years, of our Imports and Exports, as laid on the table of the House of Commons:

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1808.45.718,698----49,969,746 1809----59,851,362...·66,017,712 1810....74,558,061 •-• -62,702,409 An account of the number of Commercial Licenses granted during the last ten years, distinguishing the years:

1802

1803

...

1804 ..

1805

1806

1807

1908

1809

1810

1811

EAST INDIES.

68

836

1,142

791

1,620

2,606

4,910

15,226

18,356 7,602

The annual public disputation, in the College of Fort William, took place on the 7th of August, 1811, before General Hewitt, in the absence of the Governor-general. The disputations were in Persian, Hindostanee, and Bengalee. The students, on whom de grees of honour were conferred, were Montague Ainslie, Persian and Hindostanee; J. C. Colebrooke Sutherland, G. W. Traill, and J. Ross Hutchinson, Hindostanee; R. Lewin, T. J. Dashwood, and A. Anderson, Bengalee. Three medals were given to A. Anderson; two medals each to M. Ainslie, J. C. C. Sutherland, T. J. Dashwood, and G. W. Traill; and one medal to J. R. Hutchinson and J. Tendall. At the previous annual examination in June, 1810, Ainslie had received a medal and books, of the value of 500 rapees, for Persian; Sutherland the same for Hindostanee; and Lewin the same for Bengalee; Smelt a medal and books, of the value of 250 rupees, for Persian; and Traill the same for Hindostanee. A medal and books, value 200 rupees, were also given to Lieut. Young for Persian writing, to Whishi for Nagree writing, and to J. P. Ward for Bengalee writing. Medals were also given, on different accounts, to Yonge, Hutchinson, Dashwood, Whish, Pringle, and Lewin; and medals of merit to Lieut. Young, Messrs. Yonge, Saunders, Macsween, Pringle, Dashwood, Anderson, and Sutherland. The students leaving the college were twenty in number, viz. Ainslie, Sutherland, Anderson, Dashwood, Traill,

Hutchinson, Fendall, Smelt, Stockwell, Trots ter, Kennedy, Yonge, Parks, Pringle, Sparks, Melville, Smith, Whish, Todd, Barwell. General Hewitt, in the course of his speech, after giving the gentlemen, who had distin guished themselves, their appropriate praise observed, that not a single instance of irregularity had been reported to him; but he reprehends the expensiveness and conse quent pecuniary embarrassment of some of the students. He dwells, at some length, on the advantages which seem to have arisen from the institution of Hertford College, in facilitating the acquisition of the native lan guages, and consequently shortening the period of residence at the College of Fort William.

To the General's speech is subjoined catalogue of the works prepared under the patronage of the government and the colfege since the disputation held in 1810. These are, 1. An Arabic Miscellany, by Shekh Abmud, a learned native of Yemen, attached to the college, containing selections and original pieces of his own, in prose and verse; %. A new edition of the Soorab, an Arabic Dictionary, with Persian significations, by Moulavee Shookr Oollah and other learned natives; 3. The Noojoom ool Foorkan, an Index Verborum to the Koran, by Mustafa Khan; 4. The Kholâsut ool Hisâb, an Arabic Treatise on Arithmetic, Algebra, and Geometry, with a Persian Commentary; the treatise composed by Shekh Bubaood Deer, the comment by the late Moulavee Roshun Alee, of the college; now edited by Moulavee Jan Alee, of the Arabic department, and Tarnee Churn; 5. The Sekundernamel of Nezâmi, a celebrated Persian Poem on the heroic Achievements of Alex. ander the Great, with a Commentary; edited by Budur Alee and Hoosein Alee, moonshees of the college; 6. The Sidhánta Caumadi, a System of Sanscrit Grammar, edited by Babooram Pundit, proprietor and conductor of the Shanscrit press; 7. The Poetical Works of Meer Tukkee, in the Hiadoostanee language, edited by Turnee Churn, head moonshee in Hindoostanee. The author was a native of Agra: his works consist of epic poems, odes, and other pieces. 8. A Collection of Oriental Proverbs, by Dr. Wil liam Hunter, Secretary and Examiner to the College; 9. An English and Hindoostanee Dictionary of Terms used in Navigation, by Lieut. Roebuck, of the Madras Establishment; 10. An Oorya or Orissa and English Vocabulary, by Mohun Pershad Takoor, native librarian to the college, author of a Bongalce and English Vocabulary already

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