bishop Taylor very highly magnifys the inebriation of the foul, and raptured religion: that the great bishop of Hippo contends for paffionate devotion +: And that even Dr. Cheyné maintains there are fweetnings, fugarings, and glancings, given for encouragement of the fpiritual life: Yet all this notwithstanding, fuch things are Great exemplar: Grove: And other works. It is very remarkable, that although bishop Taylor prefers paffionate devotion in point of excellence and dignity to what he calls virtue and praife-duty, and feems fo very fond of ecstatic commotion, that one might think he placed the perfection of religion in tranfports; yet he owns that, many illufions come in the likeness of vifions, and abfurd fancys under pretence of raptures. So unfatisfying a thing is rapture and transport to the foul (fays this prelate) that it often diftracts the faculties, but seldom does advantage to piety, and is full of danger in the greatest of its luftre. -This great man died of a high fever at Lifburn in Ireland, Auguft 13, 1667. His first rife was chaplain to Laud, in 1638; then chaplain to the king in 1642; and bishop of Downe and Connor foon after the reftoration. During the government of Cromwell, Dr. Taylor kept a school in France to maintain his wife and children. Even the church of Rome allows, that he was devout, humble, and charitable to the highest degree poffible. Auftin's meditations and confeffions. It appears from these books, that this faint was a spiritual rhapfodift of the first order. His devout ideas are flaming. His feraphic ardors are aftonishing! St. Auguftin was born at Tagufta in Africa, November 13, 354, in the reign of Conftance. He died Auguft 28, 430, at Hippo, ætat. 76. The beft edition of his works is that of St. Maur, II toms. The 11th contains the faint's life, and is a fufficient fummary of his works; which are in the main a heap of ftuff. The 2d and 7th volumes are the best. The 2d contains his letters. The 7th the city of God. But it is evident from the whole, that his genius was ever too volatile to write folidly upon any subject; and are no part of chriftianity, but are really and truly at all times what Cheyné confeffes may be fometimes the case, to wit, the mechanical and animal operations of a volatile and various imagination. Away that his natural fire carried him to fuch extremities in every thing, that he contradicts himself in the groffeft manner in a thousand places, and never confutes any one he writ againft. His explications of the Bible are poor, generally falfe, and his whole body of divinity a confused despicable performance. What miracles Auftin and his contemporary faints might have worked I know not; it is not very probable they worked any; but fure I am, that at this time of day, it is a senseless thing for our univerfity-doctors, to be crying out the Fathers, and impofing them as guides in chriftian religion. The Fathers were in truth a parcel of poor creatures. Whoever reads them without prejudice, or design to serve a faction, muft fee that they were fo very ignorant of fcriptures, that they almost conftantly understood them in a wrong fenfe. But there is this good ufe to be made of their writings, contradictory as they are to the principles of reafon and the gospel in too many places, that we therein fee the teftimony of thofe faints to the books of the New Teftament, in every age, and in different parts of the world, as low as Oecumenius, qui claruit anno 990, and Theophilact archhishop of Giuftandis, who flourished in the middle of the 11th century.- -This use the learned and good Dr. Lardner has made of the Fathers, and in his excellent work, The Credibility of the Gospel Hiftory, has rendered them serviceable to our holy religion, by drawing out the external evidence of the truth of the gospel history in a manner which deferves the thanks of the whole world, as I before obferved. It is to me then very amazing to fee fo many great divines fall with fury upon Dr. Middleton for writing against the Fathers, when it is fo very obvious to a plane understanding, that their writings are for the moft part a jumble of ideas, and filled with tales as contemp Away then with transportation and ecftacy in religion, and let us render ourfelves approveable to God, by making tible as any in the popish legends; when even St. Jerom relates the history of a Bactrian camel; and St. Auftin tells, for truth, the ftory of the old cobler of Hippo. Moft certainly, inftead of blackening the doctor, and marking him out, like a wounded deer, to be driven out, and excommunicated from the fociety; thofe divines fhould, in truth and reafon, have honored him, and writ his panegyric for the great fervice he did the church of Chrift, in letting the world fee, that the Fathers were weak, credulous, fuperftitious men, the miracles they atteft mere credulity or invention, and of confequence, that the church of Rome is deprived of her evidence for the truth of the miracles, attefted to be wrought in that church. But it is fyftem, and not truth and reason, these priests regard, and when once a man appears against the popular opinions, and against all the nonfenfe, the fuperftition, and the pious frauds of the primitive ages, he may expect the whole body of reverend bigots will fall upon him. They will not allow us to be chriftians, but even on those very principles which muft finally make us papifts. They will not allow Dr. Middleton to be a chriftian, tho he gloriously labored to convince protef tants, that their religion refts upon the fingle, but folid foundation of the facred fcriptures; that they must difcard the fallacious records, and fictitious miracles of primitive antiquity, and commit themselves to the final guidance of the infpired writers. Dr. Middleton however was in reality a much better chriftian in fpeculation than any doctor that writ against him. This is evident from a thousand beautiful paffages in his valuable writings: He had the thing fo much at heart, that hẹ bears his teftimony to chriftianity, and defire to advance it, even in his life of Cicero: And as to his morals, I believe they were as good as any of his reverend neigh bours. making a right ufe of those powers of which the human conftitution is compounded. As God has left us quite free to use them well or ill, what we have to do is, to conform the mind and life to that original and primary rule of affection and action, which is exhibited by the effential and natural difference in things, as we see it drawn out for the use of mankind in the facred writings; and offer up our defires, and hearts the pureft and most upright, to the Father of lights, the fountain of all truth, order and rectitude, and the author and giver of every good and perfect gift. This is what denominates us chriftians, because the gofpel ftands upon rational principles, and is reafon reftored to its natural fovereignty in the foul. It is the image of the Deity upon the human mind, and by imitating the temper and inclinations of Chrift Fejus, in rectitude of fentiments, difpofitions, and deeds, we make the life-giving redeemer, who died on the cross for our redemption, our Saviour in this world, where only he can be a Saviour to us. Every thing else is mere ftuff. It is fuperftition, or vifion, or the policy of priests. The reverend men, not fatisfied with what the great God, and his fervant Jefus Chrift did for us in that fimple heavenly revelation the apostles writ for our inftruction, have made a gospel sublime and myfterious, which may be compared to a ball of wax. It receives whatever holy invention can imprefs, and contains as many pietys as the imaginations of churchmen can create. To this fublime and myfte rious gospel Mrs. Rowe was devoted by the prejudice of her education, and the ardors of her conftitution, and fhe bours. His enemys I fanfy will never dare to press him in this article. This great man, and true proteftant, who was a friend to mankind and good learning, and abhorred only fin, and that curfed thing called popery, died the 28th of July, 1750, in the fixty-feventh year of his age, at Hilderfham, in Cambridgeshire; the fame day that the admi rable Mrs. Harcourt's charity was likewise of : an extraordinary kind, and will long be remembered : fhe thought fhe had fcripture for the impulfe fhe felt, and for the creed of contradictions she believed. This rable author of the Independent Whig, Mr. Thomas Gordon, departed this life fuddenly. Middleton and Gordon were near friends. The doctor's works are four volumes in quarto, befides his life of Cicero. As to Dr. Cheyné, whom I mentioned in this note, on account of the spiritual Sweetnings, fugarings, and glancings he speaks of in his Effay on Regimen, p. 340, he was undoubtedly a learned phyfician, and for many years efteemed a man of fenfe; but in the decline of life, when he began to live on vegetables and water, and no longer kept the lively company he had been used to, he wanted that velocity of perfpiration which renders the machine fuperior to preffure, and in his lone finking hours, turned to the vifionary thoughts of Jacob Behemen the reverend theofopher, and Mr. William Law, the father of our method ifts. The wild religious romances gave him full employment, and by renouncing his reason in folitude, he became a heroe in vifion. Both parts of the compound were pleased with the noveltys of this new engagement. The doctor discovers imaginary beauties and perfections, and then writes down the vifions. He printed them in hopes of farther reformation, and his capital article is a grofs and dreadful tritheifm. These things he called conjectures and obfervations, and published them at the end of his Effay on Regimen.-Such was the confequence of this learned man's parting with reafon in religion, and it ought to be a warning to all the followers of Jefus, to have a care, that they do not lofe fight of the law of nature, while they profefs themselves chriftians. If they do, they will furely, like Dr. Cheyné, become all fwallowing bigots, and fink into nonsense and vision. Dr. Cheyné died at Bath, April 13, 1743, in the seventy-first year of his age. |