were beneath it; for, after informing us, "fome pieces of poetry occur in the volume;" he quotes three unconnected lines from this pleafing "Tribute" only to give the reader an idea that, occafionally, the lines are too long, and sometimes too short. He has an eye to difcern, and a head to invent, a blemish; but where is the foul to bring forward and fondly cherish and applaud a beauty? We are ready to admit some of the fhades, but are there no lights? Let the reader perufe the verfe and judge between us. In a note Mr. Pratt has juftly characterized the writings of Dr. Hawkefworth who, o as much of the ftrength of Johnfon as was either useful or agreeable, added that fweetness and amenity in which that great man was deficient." At the "Hamlet of Lee environed by the villas on Blackheath," Mr. P. had an opportunity, of which he has moft touchingly availed himself, to obferve a fingular inftance of conjugal affection, with a defcription and animated eulogy on which, and an effufion of tender fentiment on pofthumous attachment, he concludes his third letter. The Note, P. 54. in honour of an amiable nobleman fuffering under a fimilar affliction "in every line of whose monumental tribute to his countefs, the lover, hufband, and widower are manifeft," is aptly introduced and highly worthy the encomium of a writer, who has fenfibility to feel and genius to record the inability of others.

(To be continued.)

PETER PINDAR's NIL ADMIRARI.

SIR,

TO THE EDITOR.

[UCH as I have been difgufted by many articles in the Monthly Review, I never was more fo than by the perufal of the fhameless critique and indifcreet eulogium on Peter Pindar's low, wretched, Grub-street attempt, not only to vilify Mrs. More and the Bishop of London, but to fap the foundation of every moral and religious principle; which, if not enough to damn the Review, muft at least render the proprietor contemptible in the eyes, not only of all ferious welldifpofed perfons, but of every one in whofe breast any fen timent of rectitude ftill remains, for fuffering fuch an article to be inferted.

Wit may, I admit, be fo blended with prophaneness as to make it difficult not to be ftruck with the one, at the fame

time that we hold the other in abhorrence; but, notwithftanding, the Reviewer tells us, that this performance of Peter's" is executed with his usual, original, and playful wit;" was he to be brought to the ftrappado, he would find it difficult to produce a fingle inftance, bordering either on wit, humour, or pleafantry, in the whole compofition; and, after the fhocking inftances of blafphemy and impiety, which it is well known he fcruples not to utter in common discourse, what must that man be who can attempt infidiously to palliate or glofs over what no good or ferious perfon can for a moment fanction or approve?

ANTI-PROFANUS.

I

MISCELLANIES.

LETTER I.

TO A PREDESTINARIAN.

MY GOOD BROTHER,

FIND that you are one of the Predeftinarians of these latter days.

You are affured of your own falvation, and look with pity on us poor, unlearned, Chriftians, who are left behind, and dare not think fo highly of ourselves as you do. We take the whole word of God, as the rule of our faith and obedience : you take a part of it; and that part you interpret, in fuch a way of your own, as to endanger all the reft. We are taught, as plainly as words can teach us, to make our calling and election fure. But why should we do fo, if our election, like your's, is fure already? If you can once bring yourself to think that you stand, you are safe; whereas the Apostle lets me know, that I am, from that moment, in danger; and accordingly bids me take heed left I fall. But no fins can make you fall; because God is fo partial, that, in favour to you and fome others, he diftinguishes between the fin and the finner, and fees not the one for the fake of the other whereas I am told, that the foul that finnetb, it shall die; and that there is tribulation and anguish upon every foul of man that doeth evil, without diftinction of perfons. How ftrange is it, that you and I should find in the fame fcripture two fuch different religions! What will unbelievers fay? Will they not fay, that we are both mad? I am as well affured that I fhall be faved as you are; but I am not affured on your principles. You will be faved in preference to others: I humbly hope to be faved even as others. I am no M

:

NO, XIX, VOL, V.

whe e

where taught in the Scripture, nor have I any private revelation of it, that my Chriftian baptifm gave me any privilege, which baptifm does not give to other Chriftians. I am affured, and I believe it, that God is no refpecter of perfons; whereas, with you, he is nothing elfe. So the Jews thought; and that they themselves were the perfons refpected. As fuch, they juftified themfelves, and defpifed all others, as finners of the Gentiles; which opinion led them to their ruin. I never met with any perfuafion which comes nearer to theirs than your's doth. But here you will fay, you are no Jew. The Jews hated Jefus Chrift; but you love him. And I believe what you fay. But do you love him in fincerity? Have you no referves? Perhaps you have neither feen nor heard, and will not believe me, but will rather be angry with me, when I tell you, that the contempt, which was formerly fhewn to the perfon of Jefus Chrift, is now fhewn to his Church, which is his body; and that, as his own death was the beginning of Christianity, fo the death of his Church will be the end of it. When I fpeak of his Church, I mean that ark which is now on the waves of this troublesome world, towards a new heaven and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteoufnefs; I mean that Church in the wilderness which is now travelling to the Land of Promife; containing many enemies within the camp, and having many more without, who are all waiting for its deftruction, and boasting that it is near at hand.

Your way of proving your election is alfo very weak, and will bear no examination. For what teftimony have I but your own word; while your works (as we ignorant people understand them) fpeak a very different language? But you add, that it must be true becaufe you feel it; and you fay this ought to fuffice. But it will not fuffice; for it is the very witnefs which I am warned not to take; because, as it comes from yourself, it is not true; (fee John 5; 8.) and it opens a door to all manner of impofture and delufion. For if I am to believe what one man fays of himself, why am I not to believe another? Some better rule, therefore, is wanting; and our Saviour himself tells me, that there must be a second witness, and that this must be the witnefs of God, in fome shape or other unless, therefore, a man can produce it, I am not bound to believe him. I fhall ftill think, that the man, who is his own witness, is a falfe man, whether I can detect him or not. Here, neighbour, I have got you upon new ground, which, perhaps, you never faw before. But fiudy your Bible better

:

than

than you have done, and you will find that I am right, and that there is more error, and more forts of error (in the world) than you have hitherto been aware of.

You and your companions think that the Gospel is in a very fourishing state: but I fee and lament the contrary. I fee much evil under the name and appearance of good. You think the age of impofture is past; and that Satan has laid afide his old devices. You fee him with his robe of light on I fee the wolf fript: and whatever fhape he may affume to deceive the ignorant, I pray daily and earneftly that the flock of Chrift may be defended from him.

One more important question I must ask you. If, by your election, you mean that your final falvation is determined; how then is God to judge the world? Are you to judge firft, and is God to judge afterwards? Suppose that he and you fhould judge by two different rules; where are you then? Suppofe you should put evil for good; which has been a common mistake in all ages) will God follow your example? We are, therefore, bid to judge nothing before the time; till God, who alone is fit to judge, shall bring to light the hidden things of darkness; then shall strange things appear, now totally unexpected and unknown. Then the applaufes of a miftaken world, and of a man's own false heart fhall fignify nothing. No praise fhall be lafting, but that which cometh only from God.

I have now given you, with that truth and friendship, which you may expect from a brother, my three grand objections against your new law of Predeftination. I do not, I cannot, receive it. First, because God is no respecter of perfons; fecondly, because no man can be admitted as his own witness; and thirdly, because God shall judge every man according to his works. These objections are fo fhort and plain, that you muft understand them. You cannot plead ignorance. Can you anfwer them? If you cannot, you should cease to prevent the right ways of the Lord; you should come down from your high thoughts, and ferve God with me, in the good old humble way of faith, hope, and charity, which will never mislead you; and may God direct us both in the fame, for the alone merits of Jefus Christ our Lord. So fhall we be able to ftand in the evil day. In which prayer I hope you will join with your faithful brother and humble fervant,

Jan, 1, 1800,

M 2

PHILALETHES.

INTER

A

INTERNAL FEELING.

Sincere friend of the British Critic begs leave to remark on an ex

Owen's Chriftian Monitor-" profeffing true faith without fincerity, without internal feeling." Sincerity and internal feeling are here claffed together, as if they were the fame; or as if there could be no fincerity without internal feelings. Sincerity is one thing, but internal feelings are another. A man may know if he fincerely examines himself whether he be fincere, but internal feelings are vague and blind guides ever changing, and never able to convince others.-If internal feeling be admitted, the door is opened to every delufion of fanaticifm. Animal fpirits, or even the ftate of the atmosphere, may produce varieties of internal feelings. They will differ in the young and old, in male and female. If feelings be one guide, then the humble and the modest may oft times be dejected with despair, because they have them not. The bold and the forward may be elated with joy and confirmed in prefumption merely by "internal feelings;" by an unusual flow of fpirits; by a ftrength of conftitution, or even the peculiar nature of a difeafe, I esteem the British Critic as a firm friend to the church of England, but in that church I difcover nothing to countenance "internal feelings." This is the great foundation ftone of the Quakers. All is refolved into feeling. The inspiration of fcripture; the conclufions of reafon, and the refults of experience are all reduced to the vague ftandard of “internal feeling."

W. A,

Strictures on Paper which appeared in the Monthly Magazine for October, figned M. N. and entitled "Remarks on certain Refolutions, lately paffed, concerning the Public Finances."

TT does not require any great portion of fagacity to difcover, that, this Paper came from the pen of Mr. WILLIAM MORGAN, a gentle, man who, for fome years, has delighted to undervalue and decry the refources of his country, and to fpread diftrust and dismay through the land thus infpiriting our enemies to prolong the prefent conteft, in hopes of our ruin, which he has fo frequently predicted, being fpeedily compleated. These remarks begin with faying, "the minifterial writers affure us, that our profperity increases as our difficulties multiply, and that the only effect of the war is to render us a wealthier and more powerful nation." Attend, however, to the fol lowing obfervations, and decide whether this profound and accurate mathematician and financier has fairly defcribed the opinions of his opponents, amidst all the alarms and difficulties of fo terrible a

warfare,