But this is much more than I defire, and much more than is neceffary to my argument. I fuppofe, however, that you will allow, what all allow, that the book is a production of the apoftolic age in the fifth fection of your history of the doc-, trine of atonement, you quote it among the writings of the apoftolic fathers. I think it fair to remind you of this circumftance, left you should haftily advance a contrary opinion, when you find the teftimony of this writer turned against you. You allow him a place then among the fathers of the apoftolic age: and will you not allow that he was a believer in our Lord's divinity? I will not take upon me, fir, to anfwer this question for you; but I will take upon me to fay, that whoever denies it, muft deny it to his own fhame. "The Lord, fays Barnabas, fubmitted to fuffer for our foul, although he be THE LORD OF THE WHOLE EARTH, unto whom he faid, the day before the world was finished, Let us make man after our image and likenefs." Again, -for if he had not come in the flesh, how could we mortals feeing him have been preferved; when they who behold the fun, which is to perifh, and is the work of his hands, are unable to look directly against its rays. Compare Deut. xviii. 16. Exod. xxxiii. 20. Judges vi. 23. and xiii. 22. Again 66 if then the Son of God, being Lord, and being to judge the quick and dead, fuffered to the end that his wound might make us alive; let us believe that the Son of God had no power to fuffer had it not been for us." And again, Mean while thou haft [the whole doctrine] concerning the majesty of Chrift; how all things were made for him and through him; to whom be honour, power, and glory, now and for ever." He who penned these fentences was furely a devout believer in our Lord's divinity. It is needlefs to observe, that he was a Chriftian; and almoft as needlefs to obferve, that he had been a Jew. For in that age none but a perfon bred in Judaifm could poffefs that minute knowledge of the Jewish rites, which is displayed in this book. In the writer therefore of the Epistle of St. Barnabas, we have one inftance of a Hebrew Chriftian of the apoftolic age, who believed in our Lord's divi- nity.

But this is not all. They must have been originally Jews to whom this epiftle was addreffed. The difcourfe fuppofes them well acquainted with the Jewish rites, which are the chief fubject of it and indeed to any not bred in Judaism, the book' had been uninterefting and unintelligible. They were Hebrew Christians therefore, to whom a brother of the circumcifion holds up the doctrine of our Lord's divinity. He upholds it, not barely as his own perfuafion, but as an article of their common faith. He brings no arguments to prove it-he employs no rhetoric to recommend it. He mentions it as occafion occurs, without fhewing any anxiety to inculcate it, or any apprehenfion that it would be denied or doubted. He mentions it in that unhesitating language, which implies that the public VOL. LVIII. Aug. 1784. opinion

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opinion food with his own. So that in this writer we have not only an inftance of an Hebrew Chriftian, of the apoftolic age, holding the doctrine of our Lord's divinity; but in the book we have the cleareft evidence, that this was the common faith of the Hebrew Christians of that age, or in other words, of the primitive church of Jerufalem.

This, fir, is the proof which I had to produce of the confent of that church with the later Gentile churches, in this great article. It is fo direct and full, though it lies in a narrow compafs, that if this be laid in the one fcale, and your whole mafs of evidence drawn from incidental and ambiguous allufions in the other,

"The latter will fly up, and kick the beam."

As a controverfial treatise can afford no great entertainment to the generality of our readers, we must refer those, who have a tafte for the fubject, to the letters of this acute and learned writer, in which they will find the Athanafian doctrine very ably defended. The archdeacon indeed informs us, that he had read the ecclefiaftical hiftorians, had been many years in the habit of thinking for himself, and was much at home in the Greek language.' He therefore delivers himself with a tone of authority, and frequently treats his antagonist with an air of contempt.

Having given fome offence to his opponent by the ufe of the word conventicle,' he apologizes for it in his laft letter; at the fame time intimating his fufpicion, that Mr. Lindley's meeting-houfe and Dr. Priestley's are, in the worst fenfe of the word, conventicles. He cites the acts relative to diffenters, and then adds:

pro

I have fearched the registers of the epifcopal court of London, of the archdeacon's court of Middlesex, and the records of the feflions for the county of Middlefex and for the city of Westminster, for an entry of the house in Effex-street, without fuccefs. About your meeting-houfe I am precluded, as before, from making a regular enquiry. But I fear you have not taken the proper meafures for your legal fecurity; because the feffed ground of your diffent from the church of England is not a meer difagreement about particular articles, but a general denial of the magiftrates authority, either to prohibit or to tolerate. Still, fir, were you ready to comply with the requifitions of the law in thefe two particulars, the declaration of your own belief in the holy fcriptures, and the notification of the place of meeting to the ecclefiaftical or the fecular magif trate, Mr. Lindley and you, by the doctrines which you publicly maintain, are excluded from all benefits of the A&s of Toleration. Your meeting-houfe and his, contrary to your imagination, are illegal; UNKNOWN to the laws, and UNPRO TECTED by them. If this be the definition of a Conventicle, they are CONVENTICLES by the exprefs letter of the law, and.

in your own conftruction of the word. Still, fir, I had no thought to infult over your miferable unprotected ftate. The extravagant outcry which you have made, and the arrogance with which you prefume to fet your conventicles upon a footing with our own churches, have provoked me to falute you with thefe unwelcome truths. Refpe& for individuals in Mr. Lindfey's congregation and in yours, as well as for you and him, would have reftrained me from the ufe of a word, which I had perceived to be any otherwife reproachful, than as it might contain a ftrong difapprobation and cenfure of your doc trine, and a ferious difavowal of your authority to exércife the. facred function. If this is to be deemed reproach, I am not at liberty to abstain from it. Your doctrine I muft difapprove and cenfure, because I conceive it to be a grofs, I truft not a willful, corruption of the word of God.'

Neither this letter, which is dated from FULHAM PALACE, nor the former, which abounds with the high feasoning of controverfy,' are likely to produce any friendly difquifition, or terminate in any amicable coalition. It must however be acknowledged, on the part of Dr. Priestley, that in all the controverfies which he has maintained, he never encountered a more formidable antagonist.

MONTHLY CATALOGUE.

POLITICA L.

Obfervations Politiques Morales Experimentés fur les vrais Principés de la Finance, par J. V. D. Hey, 8vo. 3. Sewell.

W

E hope it will not be confidered as a libel to say, that though we have much occafion to exercife the talent of financiers, yet the fubject is almoft as much a stranger to our countrymen, as the word to our language. It is our fate to be inftructed in our deareft concerns by foreigners. Mr. De Lolme's work on the conflitution is unrivalled; and the prefent one on finance merits very confiderable praife. We had purposed to have extracted the fubftance of this little volume; but, as it can never be rendered entertaining, fo it will not be very generally useful. In a concife form our author gives a very fatisfactory outline, and makes fome judicious diftinctions which tend to correct many of the most important errors. He then confiders the means of reftoring the tottering credit of a kingdom over-burthened with debt; thefe are particularly applied to the finances of England, France, and the United Provinces. We find alfo, annexed to this chapter, a propofal for an advantageous establishment, of this part of the government of the United States of America.

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But

But the most interefting part of this publication relates to a method of paying our national debt, without any further burthens. It confifts in borrowing the remaining money which is required, on annuities of different defcriptions, and converting the former debt into funds of the fame kind, by the furplus which is found in the finking fund. As there are but few candidates for the office of chancellor of the exchequer, more particular accounts will not be very interefting; and to those who may be in that station, it would not be useful, fince they ought to perufe the work itself. Even here we are prefented with a very fhort fpecimen, though the whole is promifed to be produced, when required. We are aware of the importance of this fubject, of the enthufiafm which frequently dictates fimilar schemes, and of the mischief which might refult from a too eafy credulity. Yet, in this work, we have dif covered fo much good fenfe, fo much knowlege of the fubject, that we would diftinguish our author from the fervum pecus of projectors. There are many difficulties which still remain on the fubject, and probably more will occur to more able financiers. Thefe thould be very maturely confidered; but, as the end is highly advantageous, a probable scheme deferves the most patient attention.

A View of the British Empire, more especially Scotland. Evo. 3s. Walter.

This large pamphlet is evidently the production of an intelligent writer, whofe object is to deliver fome proposals for the general improvement of Scotland, and the relief of the people. The author takes a wide view of the political and commercial ftate both of England and Scotland; and fhews, in a clear light, the great difadvantages attending the latter, in its present fituation. He urges, with much good fenfe and juftnefs of argument, the expediency of removing certain great obftacles to its improvement; particularly by encouraging fisheries, and erecting villages and harbours in the Weft Highlands; of the expence of which operations he delivers an eftimate. The zeal which the author discovers for the profecution of thefe laudable plans, appears by no means to refult from any national partiality, but to be ingenuoufly fuggefted by one who has made extenfive obfervations, and is folicitous to promote the most valuable interests Great Britain.

An Investigation of the natural Rights of British Subjects. 8vo. 35. Baldwin.

The defign of this volume is to explain the nature of the English conflitution, with refpect to the rights and liberties of individuals. Confidering every individual in the light of debtor and creditor to the ftate, the author proceeds to illustrate the subject by deductions from this propofition; making a variety of obfervations on the progreffive changes, introduced by the legislature, relative to the rights of natural-born fubjects. In particular parts of the investigation, he difcovers much knowlege of the law, as

well as an acquaintance with the hiftory of England, and the general principles of the law of nature and nations. Among other incidental fubjects, he makes fome pertinent remarks on the confequences of the late revolutions in the British government. Some other Thoughts on a Parliamentary Reform. 8vo. 1s. Stockdale.

A reply to the pamphlet entitled, Thoughts on a Parliamentary Reform.' The author makes fome obfervations, not illfounded; but they are frequently mixed with petulance, and, in the general strain of argument, he is inferior to the writer on whom he comments *

Some Hints in Regard to the better Management of the Poor. 8vo. 15. Cadell.

This pamphlet appears to be written by a perfon of good fenfe and benevolence. The firft ftep he fuggefts to confideration, is to endeavour to excite a fpirit of industry among the poor in the different parishes of the kingdom; a measure which he thinks would prove more beneficial than those extenfive plans of reformation that have been hitherto propofed. He obferves, that for the want of proper regulation, many of the profligate poor, who spend all they can come at in drink, have recourfe, without fcruple, to their parifh-officer; whom, should he expoftulate with, or reprove them for their irregularities, they will immediately fummon before a magiftrate; knowing that if they thould not fucceed, they fuffer no other inconve nience but the lofs of their labour. The author juftly obferves, in the second place, that greater attention fhould always be given, both in the diftribution of private charity, and the allotment of public collections, to the induftrious and fober, when they fall into misfortunes, and fue for relief, than to the remarkably idle and vicious. But this, we are told, is, for the most part, not the cafe, efpecially when application is made to the public officers of the parish. These men, the author remarks, having been roughly treated by the infolence of many of the poor, fet their faces too much against them all, without making proper diftinctions; by which means the timid and the madeft, who are generally the most deferving, foon drop their pretenfions, and retire in filence; whilft the bold and intrepid perfift, and prove fuccefsful. Such conduct, it is remarked, does great prejudice. Among other particulars, the author of this pamphlet recommends the plan which has been propofed, for granting to the poor the use of a certain portion of wafte lands.

Letter from a Member of the General Convention of Delegates of Royal Boroughs, to the Citizens of the Royal Boroughs that have not yet acceded to the Plan of Reform. 4to. Edinburgh.' It appears that Scotland has catched the flame of political reform, which, we hope, will never be accompanied with any of thofe exceffes fo difgraceful during the progrefs of religious re*See Crit. Rev. vol. lvii. p. 392. I 3

form.