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tors of the new edition of the BIOGRAPHIA BRITANNICA,-in con junction with Dr. Kippis.

Art. 37. The Unlawfulness of Polygamy evinced; or Obfervations occafioned by the erroneous Interpretations of the Paffages of the New Testament refpecting the Laws of Marriage, lately published in a Treatife on Female Ruin. 8vo. 1 s. 6 d. Kearsley. 1780.

This judicious pamphlet is, like the foregoing Dialogues, a very proper check on the licentious principles of Mr. Madan's performance. The Author hath detected his blunders in criticism, and expofed his difingenuity with a laudable fpirit. The following obfervation is very juft:- With respect to our Lord's difciples, the very reply which Chrift made to their conclufion [viz. from his pofitions relating to a man's putting away his wife and marrying another] evinceth that his difcourfes related both to polygamy and divorce; or at least that the former was deducible from, and neceffarily implied in them. Our Lord's difciples fay, "If this be the cafe between a man and his wife, it is not good to marry." But he faid unto them, "All men cannot receive this faying [that it is not good to marry], but only they to whom it is given [or who are able to subdue their inclinations to the conjugal fta:e]." If polygamy was allowed as lawful by our Lord, and his disciples had more than one wife each, his reply would not have been pertinent to their inference. For in fuch a cafe, there would have been no occafion to have said, that "all men could not receive this faying;" fince if one of a difciple's wives was difagreeable to him, he would have had others that would prevent his inability to receive that faying, or govern his inclinations towards the conjugal union. The difciples therefore meant, not that they had better have no wife at all, if they could not have more than one; but that, as they could not have more than one wife at once, they had better not marry, than be obliged to retain fuch a one as might render them unhappy. The conclufion, therefore, is by no means foreign to the matter of polygamy, any more than to that of divorce; but is evidently deduced from their obligations to have no more than one wife at one time, and undeniably evinceth, that they understood our Lord's difcourfe to relate both to polygamy and to divorce,'

It is in vain to prefs Mr. Madan with fuch arguments as thefe. What he cannot answer, he wifely paffes over in filence. In his fecond edition he permits all his falfe criticifms, and detected errors, to hold their original place: while he himself maintains the folemn port and dread confequence of a messenger from heaven; and inftead of anfwering his opponents by reafon or fcripture, hath recourse to the old refuge of hypocrify, and warns them to take care left they fhould be found fighting against God!

Art. 38. Remarks on Polygamy, &c. In Anfwer to the Rev. Mr. Madan's Thelyphthora. By Tho. Wills, A. B. Chaplain to the Countess of Huntingden, and late of Magdalen Hall, Oxford. 8vo.

2s. 6d. Hughes. 1781.

Another attempt to refcue Methodifm from the reproach of the fcornful, on account of the apollacy of its great hero!

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The Author hath fo good an opinion of himself as well as his undertaking, that his vanity doth not even preferve common and decent appearances. See how it overflows in the following profeffions, conceffions, exclamations, &c. &c.

Had this treatife been written by a profeffed libertine and abandoned debauchee, it would not have been a matter of furprise : "had it been an open enemy, then I could have borne it :" or had it been a production of a priest of the Church of Rome," the Mother of Harlots, and the Abominations of the Earth," it might be eafily accounted for; nor fhould I have troubled the world or myself on fuch an occafion. But for a minifter of the Reformed Church, a minifter of the Gospel, a minifter once defervedly had in great reputation for his diftinguifhed talents, filled with more than ordinary zeal in the cause of God, and at that time allowed to be faithfully devoted to the fervice of the Sanctuary; for fuch a one to embark in fuch a cause, and to publish to the world fo grofs a work, as it hath given great" occafion to the enemies of the Lord to blafpheme," fo must it caufe thofe that are faithful in the ministry to mourn over him, saying, "Alas! my brother!"-and, with the Prophet, to exclaim, "How is the gold become dim, and the moft fine gold changed!" Elaborate, however, as this gentleman's treatife is, and long as it hath engaged his attention and Audy, even no lefs, as I am informed, than fifteen years (would to God he had been better employed)! I dare not fay, I much dread the prefent undertaking -though this must be a hafty performance, having begun to read his treatife fince the commencement of the present year. Yet ftripling as I am in knowledge and in grace, 1 fhall not fear, in the name of the Lord, to meet the ftouteft Goliath who dares to defy the armies of Ifrael."

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Bold words!-but our Atripling ftole both the fling and stone; and never attacked Goliath, till the fame fling had laid his ponderous carcafe on the ground.

Art. 39. Polygamy indefenfible; Two Sermons preached in the Parith-church at Nantwich, in Cheshire, on Sunday 10th of Dec. 1780, occafioned by a late Publication, entitled Thelyphthora. To which is prefixed a Letter to the Rev. Mr. Madan. By John Smith, A. B. Rector of the faid Parish. 8vo. I S. Hogg. 1780.

This reverend gentleman does us the honour of introducing the Monthly Review into the pulpit. We are ever difpofed to be civil from motives of common good-nature: and when gratitude fteps in, obligation feconds what inclination prompts. And yet it would be ftretching our civility too far to return the Author's compliment.—We are very forry for it!

Art. 40. Mr. O'Leary's Remarks on the Rev. Mr. Wolley's Letters in Defence of the Proteftant Affociations in England. To which are prefixed, Mr. Wefley's Letters. Dublin printed. London reprinted for Coghlan. 8vo. I S. 1780.

We have already given our opinion very freely on the subject of this controversy. It would be needlefs to repeat it. Suffice it to add, that experience hath only tended to ftrengthen our obfervations; and we are happy to reflect, that the MONTHLY REVIEW, from the

beginning,

beginning, entered its protest against the Proteftant Affaciation, from a firm conviction, that its boasted APPEAL, however right in fome of the principles it defended, and fome of the facts it flated, was wrong in its conclufions, and highly pernicious in its tendency. We delivered our fentiments as PROTESTANTS-a name we shall ever glory in; but while we feek to fupport the honour of fuch a character, we must avoid the abfurd and dangerous extreme of those zealous partizans, who in their rage for Proteftantifm have acted like Papists, and have turned perfecutors under the pretence of guarding against perfecution!

butes to me.

Mr. O'Leary, the Author of this pamphlet, is not a feigned character. He appeals to feveral respectable gentlemen who can avouch his being the identical perfon he here appears to be. He difclaims, the principles with which Mr. Wesley hath charged the Roman Catholics-thofe principles, we mean, which have that political pravity in them, which, as Mr. Welley fays, ought not to be tolerated by any State under heaven. I am (fays he) a member of that communion which Mr. W. afperfed in fo cruel a manner. I difclaimed upon oath, in prefence of Judge Henn, the creed which Mr. W. attriI have been the first to unravel the intricacies of that very oath of allegiance, propofed to Roman Catholics, as it is worded in a manner, which, at firt fight, feems abtrufe. And far from believing it lawful to violate faith with heretics, I folemnly fwear, without equivocation, or the danger of perjury, that in a Catholic country, where I was chaplain of war, I thought it a crime to engage the King of England's foldiers or failors into the fervice of a Catholic Monarch, against their Proteftant fovereign.-I refifted the folicitations, and ran the risk of incurring the difpleasure of a Minifter of State, and lofing my penfion; and my conduct was approved of by all the divines in a monattery to which I then belonged, who unanimously declared, that in confcience I could not have behaved otherwife.'

This Writer mingles a confiderable fhare of humour with his arguments against Mr. Wefley and the Affociators. We [i. e. the rifh Catholics] are too wife, fays he, to quarrel about religion. The Roman Catholics fing their Píalms in Latin, with a few inflections of the voice. Our Proteflant neighbours fing the fame Pfalms in English, on a larger fcale of English notes. We never quarrel with our honeft and worthy neighbours the Quakers for not finging at all: nor fhall we ever quarrel with Mr Welley for raifing his voice to heaven, and warbling forth his Canticles on whatever tune he pleases, whether it be the tune of Guardian Angels or Lango-lee. We love focial harmony, and in civil mufic hate difcordance. Thus, when we go to the fhambles, we never enquire into the butcher's religion, but into the quality of his meat. We care not whether the ox was fed in the Pope's territory, or on the mountains of Scotland; provided the joint be good for though there may be many herefies in old books, we difcover neither herefy nor fuperftition in beef and claret. We divide them chearfully with one another, and though of different religions, we fit over the bowl with as much cordiality as if we were at a Love-feast.... When he [Mr. W.] felt the first-fruits and illapfes of the fpirit; when his zeal, too extes five to be con

fined within the majeftic temples of the Church of England, or the edifying meeting-houfes of the other Chriftians, prompted him to travel over moft parts of Europe and America, and establish a religion, and houses of worship of his own, what oppofition hath he not met with from the civil magistrate!-what infults from the rabble!— broken benches, dead cats, and pools of water, bear witness!Was he then the trumpeter of perfecution? Was the pulpit changed into Hudibras's "drum ecclefiaftic ?" Did he abet banishment and profcription on the score of confcience? Now that his Tabernacle is established in peace, after the clouds * having borne teftimony to his miffion, he complains (in his fecond Letter, wherein he promises to continue the fire which he has already kindled in England) that people of exalted ranks in Church and State have refufed entering into a mean confederacy [viz. the Proteftant Affociation] against the laws of nature and the rights of mankind. In his firft Letter he difclaims perfecution on the score of religion; and in the fame breath ftrikes out a creed of his own for the Roman Catholics, and fays, "That they should not be tolerated even among the Turks." Thus the Satyr in the fable breathes hot and cold in the fame blast, and a lamb of peace is turned inquifitor!'

This thrust is well aimed; how the old prize-fighter will be able to parry the blow, we know not. He hath had long practice on the itage; and hath minded his hits as much as any man. Arrah! my dear honey, he may be too hard for you yet!

Itus pifcator fapit.

*See an Abridgment of Wefley's Journal, wherein he fays, that in preaching one day at Kinfale a cloud pitched over him.

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Sympathy in Diftrefs. Recommended in a Sermon occafioned by the heavy Sufferings of our Fellow-Subjects in the Weft-India Islands. Preached in the Parish Church of St. Mary, Whitechapel. By Robert Markham, D. D. Rector of the faid Parish, and Chaplain in Ordinary to his Majefty. 4to. 6d. Rivington. 1781. The Preacher excites the benevolence of his Hearers by urging the moft proper, appropriated motives and confiderations; and we have the fatisfaction to hear that they were not urged in vain.

CORRESPONDENCE.

To the EDITOR of the MONTHLY REVIEW.
SIR,

TE HE large and curious account, given in your last Appendix, of the newly discovered Hymn to Ceres, is abridged, I fee, in the Gentleman's Magazine. The compiler of that paper expreffes a wish, to have Mr. Potter, the elegant tranflator of Efchylus, undertake the tranflation of this hymn from the original Greek. I have the highest opinion of Mr. Potter's learning and ingenuity, and doubt not, but that he could execute this bufinefs to his own credit and the fatisfaction of the Public. But as the author of the criticism in your Review

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Review appears to have made this hymn the fubject of his particular ftudy, why doth be not undertake it himself? I would recommend it to him through the channel of your Review, and fhall be happy to be informed that my wifhes meet with his inclination.

Oxford, March 10, 1781.

I am, Sir,

Your very humble Servant,

An Occafional Correfpendent.

The Editor of Jeremy White's treatife on the Reftitution of all Things hath informed us, that an Anchorite, named Juliana, who lived about the year 1373, advanced fome pofitions which feem very ftrongly to favour the fame benevolent hypothefis. She was indeed a pretender to divine revelations, and our Correfpondent is inclined to pay fome deference to her pretenfions. We shall not enter into any argument with him on this head: but fhall tranfcribe the paffage which he has produced, as very extraordinary for the dark age in which it was penned. She fays, "Our good Lord revealed to me, all manner of things shall be well." In the difcuffion of these words, fhe adds, "One point of our faith is, Many fhall be damned to Hell without end, as Holy Church teaches me to believe." She was then favoured with this anfwer from God-" That which is impoffible with thee, is not impoffible with me. I fhall fave my word in all things, and shall make ALL THINGS WELL."

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This benevolent and pious lady is totally unknown to us, and perhaps to most of our Readers. We with our Correfpondent had referred to the authority from whence his quotation is made.

A. B. will find an account of the "Free Thoughts on the Toleration of Popery," in our Number for November lat. See the Catalogue part of that Month's Review.

Staffordienfis propofes what is totally impracticable, with regard to Foreign Literature.

W. B. cenfures, with fome appearance of juftice, our management in regard to a circumflance which owes its birth merely to accident. We are, however, obliged to the gentleman for his remarks.

Mr. T-m-n will perceive, in the perufal of a preceding, Article in this month's Review, what ufe we have made of his acceptable communication.

The Conclufion of the Account of Moore's" View of Society and Manners in Italy," begun in our laft, is unavoidabiy poftponed to our next month's Rewiew.

* Several Letters are received, the contents of which are under confideration.

The FOREIGN LITERATURE in our next month's Review, ttt Due attention to Mr. Lyon's Letter in our next,

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