MONTHLY CATALOGUE.

RELIGION.

ART. 17.-The Fathers of the English Church; or a Selection from the Writings of the Reformers and early Protestant Di vines of the Church of England; Vol. I. containing various Tracts and Extracts from the Works of William Tindal, John Frith, Patrick Hamilton, George Joy, Robert Barnes, with Memorials of their Lives and Writings, from Fox and Bishop Bale. 8vo. 9s. Hatchard. 1807.

We do not know what good, beyond that of gratifying curiosity, is to be obtained by the present publication. We do not want the divines of the sixteenth century, who lived in a period of compara tive darkness, ignorance, and superstition, to explain the scriptures to us who are living at the commencement of the nineteenth, when the stock of biblical learning has been so greatly augmented, and when, owing to that spirit of critical research, which has been. gradually increasing since the reformation, many theological doctrines, which were thought infallibly true by Tindal, Frith, Patrick, and other pious men, whose names are mentioned in the title page of this work, have been clearly demonstrated to have no foundation. in the scriptures. We find these writers expatiating largely on the efficacy of faith and the inefficacy of good works; on irresistible grace, imputed righteousness, vicarious punishment, and other tenets of modern Methodism which tend to exterminate the true principle of holiness from the soul of man. We have been taught by the HIGHEST AUTHORITY that to love God with all our hearts and to do unto others as we would that others should do to us contain the whole sum and substance of unvitiated Christianity. This religion is sufficient for all the practical uses of time; and it is the BEST PREPARATION FOR ETERNITY. One great proof of its merit is that its simplicity is not perplexed with a single mystery; A mystery means a secret or something unrevealed, but an unrevealed secret and a revealed religion are incompatible terms. One is contradictory to the other. True christianity, therefore, which is a revealed religion, has no mysteries. Christ was too wise and too good to make his doctrine a web of inextricable perplexity; the doctrine which he taught, and the awful truths which he dis closed were calculated to come home to men's interests and bosoms; but this they never would have done, if they had been inveloped in hieroglyphics which no sagacity can penetrate, no reason can ex

plain. Those interested or designing men, who in after ages converted his plain and beautiful doctrine into a medley of mysteries, have greatly lessened its power to convince the mind and to influence the heart. True virtue can never be impressed upon the affections and the conduct by stunning the ear with a jargon of words that are void of sense.

ART. 18.-Strictures on the Origin of Moral Evil, in which the Hypothesis of the Rev. Dr. Williams is investigated. By W. Parry. 800. 2s. 6d. Conder. 1808.

THE origin of evil is one of those subjects, which writers have in general obscured by their attempts to elucidate and perplexed by their endeavours to make plain. The most simple exposition without clouding the subject by indefinite expressions or metaphysical subtilties appears to be the following. Both scripture and reason concur in representing man as a being accountable for his actions. This accountableness necessarily implies freedom of choice, for there can be no accountableness where the person is placed in circumstances of irresistible necessity or of mechanical compulsion. This freedom of choice is the birth-right of man. There is no individual in a state of intellectual sanity who cannot choose between justice and injustice, truth and falsehood, and the other diversities of moral and immoral agency, in the same manner as he can make his election between sweet and sour, black and white, a loaf of bread and a stone, when both are placed before him. However much metaphysicians or divines may confound the question by their learning, their ignorance, or their art, there is no man who is not self-conscious at the moment in which he does either right or wrong, of having been able to have done right instead of wrong or to have done wrong instead of right. A freedom of moral choice, not subject to any thing like mechanical constraint, being one of the distinctive properties of accountable man, a mixture of good and evil will be visible in his conduct; as we see 10 be actually the case. For, freedom of moral choice supposes a possibility of compliance with motives which impel in contrary directions. The matives of present gratification, acting on the mind, in opposition to those of greater, but less immediate good are often suffered to influence our choice, in favour of some particular action or course of action, which is contrary to the precepts of virtue, and to the reality of happiness. Thus perhaps we yield to the present incitements of intemperance or lust, or some other vicious gratification, which ultimately produces a degree of suffering greater than the present pleasure can compensate. But in this and in similar instances of vicious conduct, no one will say that we act without motives, or by mechanical constraint. Two ways are placed before us; but allured by some fallacious gratification we wilfully take the wrong instead of the right. Virtue may be proved by a rational Induction of particulars to be the law of our nature, or that course

of conduct which our real and permanent well being ought to induce us to pursue. But though virtue be the law of our nature, it is not like one of those general laws, which regulates the revolution of the planets or the changes of day and night; it is not a law which executes itself without the concurrence of the individual. It is a law which requires the unforced assent and active cooperation of the being for whose good it was made; and when we consider that that being is at best very fallible and imperfect, we need not be at any loss to account for the origin of moral evil, or for the many infractions which we behold of virtue's sacred "rules. What then, it will be said, do you impute the origin of moral evil to the Deity? The invidious question will be best answered by asking in return? Is not man a free agent? capable of distinguishing between good and evil in the perceptions of his mind ? and of choosing either good or evil in the actions of his life? But was not this freedom of moral election the gift of God? and consequently--Stay! vain man! and let not the goodness of thy Creator be converted into an occasion of blasphemy!

The Almighty has made his creation the nursery of virtue and has filled it with every possible discouragement from vice, compatible with the circumstances of beings invested with a certain portion of moral liberty and consequently accountable for their actions. And even though vice may thus be said to be permitted to exist, yet the numerous evils which always sooner or later follow the commission serve as a contrast to evince the beauty, the loveliness and the immortality of virtue.

ART. 19.-An Illustration of the general Evidence establishing the Reality of Christ's Resurrection. By George Cook, A.M. Minister of Lawrence Kirk.

8vo. 7s. 1808.

WE have not observed in the perusal of this performance any striking novelty of remark or any superior cogency of argument. But the proofs, which have been adduced by other writers in support of this all-important fact, are stated with sufficient perspicuity. Mr. Cook's Illustration' will probably be acceptable to those who have hitherto read but little on the subject; or who wish for a plain, rational exposition of the general evidence, in support of the resurrection.

ART. 20.-A Defence of the principal Doctrines of evangelical Religion, in a Letter to a Barrister; occasioned by his Hints on the Nature and Effect of evangelical Preaching; by a Layman. 8vo. Williams and Smith. 1808.

ART.21.-An Appeal to the Legislature and to the Public in Answer to the Hints of a Barrister on the Nature and Effect of evangelical Preaching. By an evangelical Preacher. Sto. Williams and Smith. 1808.

THE whole tribe of saints have been dreadfully alarmed by the

assault which has been made by the barrister on the citadel of their superstition. All able-bodied methodists have been summoned to repair to the works and to assist in the defence. The great guns as well as the small arms have been put in requisition. Loads of cartridges have been made on the occasion; and these have been formed of the most combustible matter wrapped up in garbled extracts from the scriptures. These it is thought will do great execution; and they have been levelled by the most expert marksmen in the different congregations against both the head and heart of the barrister, who instead of sounding a retreat keeps continuing his advances and has actually beat the leader of the van, Dr. Hawker, who made a sally from the gates, back into the walls. The Dr. has been so severely wounded by the barrister, in the os frontis, that it is expected he will never show his face in another encounter. One of the lay-saints, and an evangelical preacher whom we understand to be the Reverend Mr. Collier, the simpering divine, the popinjay of the saints, and the ornament of the print-shops, have since made an attempt with as little success to destroy the battering train and all the besieging tools of the enemy. But the barrister according to the last reports, maintained his position and was preparing for a second attack upon the Vice and Ignorance - bastions of Calvin-fort. As soon as the account reaches us we shall not fail to announce it to our readers.

POLITICS.

ART. 22-A short Appeal to the landed Interest of this Country, lest permanent Interest should be bartered for temporary Gain. 8vo. Hatchard. 1808.

WHEN the interests of two large bodies in the state happen to clash with each other, as is thought to be the case in the present dispute between the West Indian merchants and the English farmers, or the growers of sugar and the growers of barley, the general good rather than the particular benefit of individuals is what ought to regulate the decisions of the government. The government, instead of becoming a party in the dispute, ought, with intrepid constancy, to pursue those measures which it deems most likely to promote the welfare of the community. The welfare of the community ultimately comprehends that of the party who oppose the execution of those counsels, by which it is to be obtained. The present question lies in a narrow compass-Will the use of sugar in the distilleries be more advantageous to the community than the use of barley, in the present circumstances of the country? In the present circumstances of the country, is it not essential to our safety to be as much as possible independent of other countries for our supply of grain? Are not the great European marts, from which we used at all times to import much corn, but from which in time of scarcity we derived

eur greatest support, imperviously shut against the entrance of our ships? And will any other part of the world furnish a suċ- cedaneum for the sources of succour of which we are thus deprived? Will not the saving of so much grain, as, to all purposes of human subsistence, is absolutely wasted or rather turned into a fluid destructive of human life, in the distilleries, operate as a substitute for so much foreign importation? It is said that the farmer, by being excluded from the supply of the distilleries, will have a quantity of barley on hand greater than the demand; that thus the market will be overstocked and the prices fall. But in propor tion as the prices of grain falls, will not the wages of labour, the poor's rate, and other agricultural expenses decrease? Cannot the land which grows barley be made to produce other species of subsistence more agreeable to the stomachs of Englishmen ? If there be a surplus of barley, owing to the employment of sugar in the distilleries can it not be employed in fattening swine and thus increasing the quantity of animal food? If the farmer cannot sell his barley he may at least always find a market for his pork. The West India planters will certainly be benefited by the proposed regulation, and the injury, which the farmers anticipate, seems to be less real than imaginary; and is this evil whether real or imaginary to be put in competition with the general good of the community? We do not view this as a party-question; and we hope that none of our readers will consider it in that light. Some judicious observations are made by the author of this Short Appeal.

ART. 23-Remarks suggested by the Perusal of a Pamphlet entitled Britain independent of Commerce. By P. Williams, Esq. 8vo. Tipper. 1808.

MR. Williams contends in opposition to Mr. Spence, that foreign commerce is indispensably requisite to our national prosperity. Many of his remarks are pertinent and judicious; and with the exception of his eulogy on Mr. Pitt, to whom the commerce of the country is under no particular obligations, except it be for loading it with imposts, we have perused his performance with considerable satisfaction.

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ART. 24. Vindicia Lusitana, or an Answer to a Pamphlet entitled the Causes and Consequences of the late Emigration to the Brazils. By Edward James Lingham, Esq. 2s. 6d. Budd.

THIS is the production of a sensible, dispassionate, and enlightened man, who seems not to be influenced by any party views. From what he has said on the subject we are disposed to ascribe more courage and constancy to the Prince Regent of Portugal than we had formerly thought his due. The first propositions, hostile to Great Britain, were made by France to Portugal on the 12th of August last. After this the Portuguese government began cautis