With the Duke's return to England the correspondence to which Mr. Coxe has had access terminates. We wish it had been preserved to his Grace's death, for he was actively employed both by Anne, and George I., and some curious particulars of those reigns might be expected from his papers. We find him reappointed Lord Chamberlain in 1710; two years afterwards he was ambassador to France; and on returning from this important mission he was nominated Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. The feuds, and the ultimate objects of the faction which at that time swayed the Queen's counsels, were such as he would have shrunk from with disgust; and one of his biographers has assigned a probable reason for this appointment so far from the main field of politics, "that a person "that a person of his penetration might not see the dark doings then on foot, and perhaps have saved the Queen from splitting on that rock which cost her her life."

Be this as it may, his administration in Ireland was honourable to himself and beneficial to the country. "I come here," he took occasion to observe very early, "NOT TO BE OF ANY PARTY, but to administer justice equally to all, to serve the Queen, and to protect the subjects in their liberty." During an election in Dublin, when the Tories as a mark of distinction wore laurel in their hats, he admitted no one to his levees who carried this or any other badge of dissention. His reward, as might be expected, was the confidence of neither faction, and the abuse of both. He was openly ridiculed in satires and lampoons; and, in allusion to a personal defect, was insulted in the very walls of the castle by the nickname of Polyphemus, or Ireland's eye.

The distractions in administration terminated only with that which they probably hastened, the Queen's death. In her last moments Anne placed in Shrewsbury's hands the treasurer's staff; so that he filled three posts at once, which no single individual had ever occupied before; those of Lord' Lieutenant of Ireland, Lord High Treasurer of Great Britain, and Lord Chamberlain of the Household.

Under George I. he successively held the offices of Groom of the Stole; Privy Purse; and Lord Chamberlain. The last he resigned a few months before his death, which took place on the 1st of February, 1718. The dukedom and marquessate became extinct with him; the earldom was continued in Gilbert, son of the tenth earl.

There is little in this correspondence to amuse the mere lounger. Admiral Russell's splenetic effusions may some

times excite a smile; and two brief notices of Peter the Great may be contrasted with those which may be hereafter taken of a visit from the Autocrat of the Russias in our own times. We expect the Czar to be here in two or three days," says Lord Villiers, "the King will come hither to see him. I believe his Majesty heartily wishes the visit over; for from what we hear, his. Muscovilish Majesty is but scurvy company." "I have had the opportunity of seeing the Czar with his Majesty," he adds about a month afterwards; "the interview between these two great princes was in a very dirty tavern, (at Sandyke) from whence the Czar would not be got out, for fear of seeing too much company. The same reason hindered him from dining with the King, though his Majesty invited him. The behaviour of this man is very singular and capricious, though in some things he seems to have the genius of a great prince; but he is at too great a distance for us to concern ourselves about him." In this last point our political relations are not a little changed. In most else, which this volume records, in the inheritance of faction, which has been our curse and disgrace since the days of the Revolution, in the portraits which are given of the solicitudes of public life, and the gilded shackles of power, we require little else but a change of names, to persuade us that we are reading of transactions not removed by more than a century from observation, but present at this moment to our

senses.

ART. II. Six Discourses preached before the University of Oxford. By Thomas Linwood Strong, B. D. of Oriel College, Oxford; Chaplain to the Lord Bishop of Llandaff. 8vo. pp. 164. 6s. Rivingtons. 1821.

THE singularly modest Preface by which these Discourses are introduced, had in some measure prepared us for the high satisfaction which we have derived from the perusal of them: for in the progress of our critical labours, we have learnt to estimate the justice of that very trite, but nevertheless very true remark which teaches that the value of any book, for the most part, is precisely in an inverse ratio to the pretence which the author asserts for it. Mr. Strong informs his readers that his Sermons, though prepared for an audience of the highest class, and now offered exclusively to the notice of well educated men, have not the slightest pretensions to inge

nuity, eloquence, or research. In this stateroent we must take leave partly to differ from him. For ingenuity, simply as such, in matters connected with theology, we profess to have very little regard. We think it a very doubtful guide, which if it does not always mislead its possessor into sophism, at least often perplexes him in hypothesis. But if eloquence consists not in florid declamation, but in sound argument couched in a plain and nervous style; if the excellence of the preacher's art is to convince by distinct reasoning and to attract by dietion which, without becoming meretricious, shall give pleasure; if research is to be measured by fullness of knowledge of the particular subject to which we address ourselves, we should do no slight injustice to Mr. Strong's good taste and ripe scholarship if we admitted his disclaimer, without protesting against it.

The discourses are six in number, and, as preached at different times, are without more connection with each other than the common bond which necessarily unites all illustrations of the Christian doctrine. From the 15, 16, 17, and 18th verses of 1 Philippians, the preacher in his first address takes occasion to shew that no countenance is given in the Apostolical writings to the propagation of discordant articles of faith." He proves the fallacy of that mischievous notion, which it is so much the fashion of modern liberality to inculcate, that it signifies little what opinions men embrace, provided they are sincere in their belief: and frees this Epistle of St. Paul from the false construction to this effect which some have wished to put upon it.

The contrast which the Apostle draws, is not between diversities of doctrine; but between the motives by which the different preachers of his day were actuated; and the observation of Erasmus, as Mr. Strong truly remarks in citing it, "is both just and luminous." "Non Paulus de his loquitur qui docebant hæretice, sed qui recte, licet animo parum sincero. Nec hos probat tamen; sed negat tibi discutiendum quo animo id faciant, modo prosint." After combating these "lax opinions of Christian unity," Mr. Strong shows the bearing of his text upon the XXVIth article of our Church; which asserts that the unworthiness of the minister does not affect the efficacy of the means of grace which he is appointed to distribute; and in conclusion he finely inclines his argument to a brief notice of the crowning virtue of charity.

The second discourse is on a subject more exposed to controversy: and we cannot too strongly recommend it to our younger brethren, as containing a most satisfactory refutation of the objections which are commonly urged against

the retention of the Athanasian creed. The pointed words of our Saviour, Mark xvi. 16. are chosen as its ground-work. In the explanation of these it is remarked that they must be regarded as a concise enunciation of a very wide and comprehensive proposition; and interpreting them with this reasonable latitude they must be understood as asserting no more than a proposition which is confirmed both by reason and the whole tenor of Scripture: namely, that "the man who arrogantly rejects the Gospel, without a fair examination of its pretensions, or refuses to give due credit to the evidence which is laid before him, shall be consigned to perdition."

After a brief history of the Arian controversy, and the anathema annexed to the concession of faith prepared by the council of Nice, Mr. Strong proceeds to remark.

"A declaration of the same nature, and with the same intent, is prefixed to the creed which bears the name of Athanasius. These clauses must be interpreted on the same principle as the language of my text. When our Saviour said, he that believeth not shall be damned,' he doubtless intended to denounce punishment on all, who with sufficient means of information might reject, or wilfully corrupt, the doctrines of his religion; but not on those who might be ignorant of the Gospel, or incapable of attaining a competent knowledge of its doctrines and conditions. It is clearly the perverse disposition of individuals, not the deficiency of their knowledge, against which his anger is denounced. So the language of the Athanasian creed is intended only to condemn all wilful depravation of the truth, and obstinate infidelity. In this sense it has always been understood by the most temperate and judicious writers of the church of England; and it is, perhaps, worthy of remark, that the commissioners who were appointed to revise the Liturgy in the first year of king William the Third, had resolved to prepare a rubric to this effect: the condemning clauses are to be understood as relating only to those who obstinately deny the substance of the Christian faith. It is well known that the main object of this commission was at last abandoned; but the fact that such a rubric was prepared by the commissioners, is a proof of the construction which they put upon the damnatory clauses of the Athanasian creed. In attaching this sense to the clauses in question, they acted in conformity both to Scripture and reason, and bequeathed a lesson of wisdom and moderation to the clergy of future times. Although the rubric which they proposed was not inserted in the Liturgy, it may tend to confirm our judgment, and to produce much private satisfaction on a point of acknowledged

"The King's commission was dated 13 Sept. 1689, and the commissioners met in the Jerusalem Chamber, on the 10th of October following."

difficulty. As our Saviour did not think it necessary to guard the strong language of my text, but has left us to understand it with such exceptions as common sense, and the general principles of his religion, might suggest; so we may understand these clauses of the creed as a broad and general statement of an important truth, which applies in different degrees to different persons, and must therefore always be received in a qualified sense." P. 36.

In this manner what are called the condemning clauses are to be understood. Respecting the articles of faith which the creed contains, no such limitation can be demanded; no such concession can be made. Every iota which is there laid down, may be abundantly proved from Scripture." To those who are in the habit of silently omitting this most important portion of authorised public worship on the days on which the canons of the Church enjoin its recital, (and we fear that this practice is adopted by some, and those most conscientious ministers, who would be startled if we reminded them that in so doing, they infringe the vow which they have solemnly made at the altar to "give their faithful diligence always so to minister the doctrine and sacraments, and the discipline of Christ, as the Lord hath commanded, and as this Church and realm hath received the same according to the commandments of God;)" we think the following passage may be presented with advantage.

"It appears, then, that the language of the Athanasian creed is not more severe than the language of our Saviour and his Apostles; and moreover, that similar expressions were used by the church in primitive times, not with a presumptuous intention of anticipating the decisions of Almighty wisdom, but simply with a view of protecting the everlasting Gospel from the errors of the weak, and the designs of the wicked. On the same ground we are required to use the Athanasian creed. It becomes us to recite that ancient formulary, not in a spirit of intolerance and pride, but with humility, charity, and faith; in the earnest hope that it may 'please God to have mercy on all Jews, Turks, Infidels, and Heretics; to take from them all ignorance, hardness of heart, and contempt of his word; and so fetch them home to his flock, that they may be saved among the remnant of the true Israelites, and be made one fold under one shepherd, Jesus Christ our Lord." " P. 40.

It is not by flattering the vices, errors, and capricious feelings of mankind, continues Mr. Strong, but by firmly resisting them, that the precepts of our religion can be obeyed. We

Rev. xiv. 6.