disinterested. Fanaticism, on the contrary, is base, gloomy, deceitful, selfish, and inexorable. Enthusiasm is the friend of virtue, the stimulus of youth, and the strength of manhood. Without enthusiasm action will be languid, and feeling cold. Fanaticism is the incentive to error, and narrows every virtue; nay, even converts goodness into vice, religion into bigotry, and mercy into persecution. Enthusiasm dares much for the good of mankind, and sacrifices self-interest for the salvation of others. Fanaticism sharpens the dagger of the assassin, and exults in the thousands and tens of thousands it has slain. Enthusiasm may be tempered with gentleness, and softened by mercy. But fanaticism is incapable of kindness or Compunction. Fanaticism, with unconverted Paul, believes that it does good to persecute. Fanaticism, the demon of heathen temples, dictated the severe persecution of the first Christians; it presided over all the cruelties of bigoted Rome; lit the fire of the blessed martyrs; overturned king-, doms and altars, and arts and sciences; and has deluged the earth with blood and rapine and devastation. Enthusiasm is indeed an extreme of passion; but without some share of this there can be little excellence, either moral or intellectual: but fanaticism is the destruction of all that is good or great. We charge not modern fanaticism with all those direful effects, but such is its spirit; and melancholy experience has shewn us in this kingdom, to what enormities it has led, and to what it may again tend, should it too generally prevail.' p. 159–160.

Yet enthusiasm and fanaticism have each its votaries, and the deluded wretches are classed together by our most logical lec-.

turer.

feel

The fanatic reasons thus; I am blessed with a new and better light; I grace abound in me. I may fall; but sin will not be imputed to me. Good works are ostentatious; and therefore, whatever I do, my salvation is sure; for I am bought with a price, and the gates of hell cannot prevail against me. Will the enthusiast then deny himself enjoyment, to which he can flatter himself that he is licensed? Who will love virtue, if he believes that it is not essential to propitiate the favour of heaven? Who will forsake sin if he can persuade himself that it is not displeasing to his Maker?' p. 171-172.

After all, then, we see that enthusiasm and fanaticism are very dreadf 1 things. And though Dr. Bidlake, by reason of that amiable candour which makes some good natured men hope against hope, would not be so illiberal as to charge any description of enthusiasts with a systematic plan to encourage vice; yet he furnishes proofs which must inevitably compel all other persons to adopt a different conclusion. For he assures us (p. 199) that enthusiasts pretend that, as works are said to be the fruits of faith, therefore they must follow of course.' Tremendous indeed must be the state of any man, or class of men, who should adopt and act upon so pestiferous a notion! Happily, however, this last criterion will assist us in detecting and exposing them. Let us try:

'Enthusiasts pretend, that as works are said to be the fruits

.

of faith, therefore they must follow of course: The church of England affirms in her 12th article, that good works spring out necessarily of a true and lively faith: And Bishop Tomline declares at p. 160, of his Refutation of Calvinism, that true faith produces good works as naturally as a tree produces its fruits. Therefore the church of England, instead of being, as her 19th article declares, a congregation of faithful men,' is, according to Dr. Bidlake's criterion, a collection of enthusiasts and fanatics; and that active prelate the Bishop of Lincoln, is an abettor of their dangerous and delusive principles,-one of those fanatics,' who, as our author expresses it, distort truth by exaggeration.'-If this be the case, they have indeed as he farther assures us, the power of giving the colour of falsehood to the plainest fact: that which is straight becomes crooked, seen through a denser medium, and, like diverging rays, reflect no perfect image.' p. 200.

In a matter, however, of such great moment, let us not come too hastily to a positive decision; but attend to one or two more of our author's indications. Now some of these may be gleaned from p. 163, where he censures their indulgence in long prayers, and informs us that to make long prayers seems to have been at all times the characteristic practice of zealots as well as deceivers.' Long prayers are the substitute for practical charity; much speaking for negligence of duty. Let it be recollected, (though, indeed, it is too palpable to be possibly forgotten,) that the prayers of the church of England, are much longer than those of almost any other class of Christians worshiping in Great Britain, and the conclusion furnished by Dr. Bidlake may be shewn thus:

Enthusiasts and fanatics make long prayers: The prayers of! the church of England are very long: Ergo, the members of the church of England are enthusiasts and fanatics. Q.E. D.

By the way, a certain fact recorded in the Gospels throws us upon an awkward dilemma, from which we will thank our acute logician to extricate us. The Saviour of the world, a short time before his crucifixion, continued all night in prayer.' Was he, then, the founder of the sect of enthusiasts and fanatics?

But we must adduce one more proof. In offering a few remarks on the method of instruction adopted by enthusiasts,' Dr. Bidlake says,

And here I must discourage the practice of extemporaneous preaching, which it appears to me can answer no useful purpose, but must conduce to the degradation, rather than the improvement of the mind.

If we consider the nature of Christian society, we shall find the practice not at all congenial to its present state. We are not like the mistionary, whose employment it is to instruct those who are not previously

possessed of the principles of knowledge; for him the practice may be necessary, since he is to make an instantaneous impression. But we have to communicate instruction to those who have been born and baptized in the faith, and have received perhaps some previous instruction; or at all events, who have their minds prepared to receive such instruction. Our object should be, not merely to awaken the passions which are evanescent, but to fix and confirm the principles of our religion, and to produce a lasting conviction. It is certainly more decent to come prepared with those discourses to our hearers, which are to teach them the way of everlasting life.' p. 208 209.

We cannot rest upon this point, to show how aptly and forcibly the same kind of reasoning would exhibit the folly and danger of extemporaneous eloquence at the bar or in the senate: but must proceed to employ this additional criterion, to fix indelibly the censure of enthusiasm upon that body to whom our author proves it to belong. In order to this we shall take leave to make an extract from the statute-book of the University of Cambridge, p. 300, Carol. II. Rex.

• Vice-chancellor and Gentlemen.

Whereas his Majesty is informed that the practice of reading sermons ' is generally taken up by the preachers before the University, and there'fore continues even before himself; his Majesty hath commanded me to signify to you his pleasure, that the said practice which took its beginning from the disorders of the late times, be wholly laid aside; and that the 'said preachers deliver their sermons, both in Latin and English, by me. mory, without book; as being a way of preaching which his Majesty judgeth most agreeable to the use of foreign churches, to the custom of the University heretofore, and to the nature of that holy exercise. And that

his Majesty's commands in these premises may be duly regarded and observed; his further pleasure is, that the names of all such ecclesiastical persons as shall continue the present supine and slothful way of preaching, be, from time to time, signified to me by the Vice-chancellor for the ' time being, on pain of his Majesty's displeasure.

Oct. 8, 1674.

MONMOUTH."

Here then, the inference is more cogent than ever. Dr. Bidlake assures us that enthusiasts and fanatics are averse to reading of sermons, and deliver them without book: King Charles II. as head of the church of England, censured the custom of reading as supine and slothful, commanded that it be wholly laid aside,' and enjoined preaching memoriter as most agree. able to the nature of that holy exercise: Ergo, the constitution of the church of England is fanatical, and Charles the Second, even Charles the SECOND, established enthusiasm and fanaticism by law, and incorporated them with the statutes of the University of Cambridge!

But, to be serious upon so serious a subject. It is to us a matter of great astonishment, that in times like the present, any man of tolerable intelligence, and moderate enlargement of

views, should waste his time and strength in drawing fallacious pictures of what he fancies to be enthusiasm or fanaticism, for the edification of men of learning in a University. Are the students of Oxford so prone to enthusiasm, as to render the guarding them against it indispensable? Are zeal in a good cause, devotedness to God, ardour in worship, solicitude to convert "sinners from the error of their way," concern about "the one thing needful," aspiring after "an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and which fadeth not away," "glorying in the cross of Christ," so dangerous and despicable, that she who caricatures and misrepresents them, shall fancy he is discharging an imperious duty? Are they productive of greater evils than Socinianism, for example? Are such practices and desires to be censured, while those who purposely mis-translate and interpolate Scripture, who deny the Lord that bought them," and degrade his apostles beneath the rank of many modern historians, are suffered to escape with impunity? Are none of the young men at Oxford, who are about to take orders, in danger of preferring places of public amusement to their closet or library,-foxhunting to the collating of manuscripts,-card-playing to the reconciling of dissonant passages,-carousing at feasts, canvassing at elections, betting at horse-races, dangling after fashionable females, sneering at the sanctimoniousness of saints, to feeding on the bread of life," "striving to enter in at the straight gate," " pressing towards the mark for the prize of the high-calling," aiming to win souls," "following them who through faith and patience, are inheriting the promises," or praying to be" made pure as they are" pure? Assuredly the disregard of such duties is but insufficiently atoned for by abstaining from long prayers,' and an abhorrence of extemporaneous preaching. On the whole, we fear Dr. Bidlake has much to learn, if he supposes that by vituperating Calvinists, confounding zeal with fanaticism, piety with hypocrisy, representing infidelity as less heinous than enthusiasm (p. 155), and questioning the existence of atheism, he has very wisely performed his task, or very exactly fulfilled the wishes of the venerable founder of the Bampton Lecture.

66

Art. VIII. The Elements of the Science of War; containing the modern, established, and approved Principles of the Theory and Practice of the Military Sciences: viz. the Formation and Organization of an Army, and their Arms, &c. &c. Artillery; Engineering; Fortification; Tactics; Logistics; Grand Tactics; Castrametation; Military Topography; Strategy; Dialectic and Politics of War. Illustrated by 75 Plates. Dedicated, with permission, to the King, by William Muller. 3 Vols. 8vo. pp. 650, 680, 560. Longman and Co. 1810. IN the composition of this work, it has been Mr. Muller's

object to give a scientific view of the whole business of war-from the mere handling of a spade, up to the conduct of an army. He professes to include in this elementary treatise the general definition of the Science of War-the organization of an army, and its maintenance and expenditure-the theory and practice of fortification-tactics, theoretic and practical-castrametation-military topography— strategy-the politics of war-and a general illustration of the above mentioned points, by a reference to the most authentic accounts of the most celebrated battles, memorable sieges, able retreats, and other distinguished and remarkable military events.'

In times like the present, when the business of war has unhappily become the business of common life, such a work is by no means unacceptable. Though compiled for the use of the student, it is, at the same time, sufficiently popular for general use; and will be found of material utility to such as are not satisfied with the bare information that a town has been taken or a battle won, but are anxious to obtain enough of military science to understand the details of an action, and to trace the process of a siege. Laying aside the consideration of the iniquity and the miseries of war, there are few pursuits, perhaps, which awaken a more powerful interest, than the study of its tactics; nor is there any subject which affords matter of deeper and more agitating reflection, when we observe the power of mind, the inexhaustible fertility and ingenuity of invention which have been employed in the perfection of an art that boasts, as its exclusive object, the destruction of the human race.

The first of these solid octavos contains, ist, the details of the composition and administration of an army, from the staff, to the contract for clothing: in this part we have not observed any material omission, and it is clearly and distinctly drawn up. The artillery comes next, and as far as we are able to judge, without a very minute investigation, this portion is the ablest of the whole work: it contains a great number of very important particulars, and several