mute to the unlearned, and of service only to linguifts and critics; though they are thofe Scriptures alone, and not Dr. Campbell's, nor even the authorized, verfion, that can with truth be called the book of God! Again, is it poffible, without great learning, to know that the Gospels were written by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and are of course entitled to the veneration which they have drawn? Or can this fact be afcertained but by linguifts, critics, and antiquaries? If not, our author's reply (fee our last Review) to the objection urged against that course of study which he reprefents as neceffary to confirm our faith in the Gospel, completely obviates his own objection to the fyftem which exhibits the original conftitution of the church as a fact neceffary to be known, though with respect to that fact revelation be perfectly mute to the unlearned. For the truth of both facts-the authenticity of the Scriptures and the original government of the church-the unlearned muft implicitly rely on the fidelity of their teachers; and great will be the guilt of those teachers, who fhall wilfully mislead them with respect to either. The reader, who has been converfant with Dr. Campbell in the works published by himself, cannot fail to be furprised at fuch palpable contradictions in these posthumous volumes; but when a man fits down determined, not to investigate truth, but to fupport a particular caufe, the most vigilant attention will hardly be fufficient to guard him against contradictions, if that cause is to be fupported by various and complicated reafonings. The caufe, which the Doctor feems determined to maintain, is a parity of order and office among the minifters of the church, and the fupreme power of the people in the administration of church difcipline; but the power of the people, to caft offenders out of the church and re-admit them on their repentance, cannot be reconciled with the belief that our Lord committed the keys of his kingdom, not to the people at large, but to a particular order of men, whom in matters ecclefiaftical the people are, of course, bound to bey. He therefore fets himself to prove, that no fuch order was intended to continue in the church; (for he feems to grant its original existence in the perfons of the apostles) and that it is a matter of no confequence by whom a convert be baptifed, provided the perfon ad¬ miniftering that facrament act as the organ of fome particular congregation. As the advocates for the apoftolical inftitution of Epifcopacy have been the moft ftrenuous opponents of fuch democratical doctrines as this, our Lecturer, inftead of tracing hiftorically the practice of the church from the days of the apoftles, felects one or two English divines, who have been honoured with the appellation of High Churchmen, and labours to overthrow their arguments for Epifcopacy, hoping perhaps that if he fhould prove fuccefsful against them, his popular claims would be admitted of courfe. He begins with Mr. Dodwell, whom he treats with the moft fupercilious contempt for being ftrongly attached to his own notions; for advancing very fingular notions, and for being an Irish non-juror! It is true, Dodwell was all this; but he was was likewife a man of worth and erudition-of fuch profound erudition, that we fhould be puzzled, were we called upon to name his fuperior; and though he did refufe to transfer to King William the allegiance which he had fworn to King James, we cannot think that it would have leffened Dr. Campbell, in the eftimation of the world, to have treated fuch a man with the refpect that was paid to his learning and his virtues by Dr. Samuel Clerke, when oppofing the most dangerous and paradoxical of all his notions.. The opinions of Dodwell, which Dr. Campbell labours to overthrow, are, that without a commiffion derived from the apostles no man can be authorised to adminifter the Chriftian facrament of baptism; and that thofe only have this commiffion, who have received ordination by impofition of the hands of a bifhop or bishops. "Where, fays our author, do you find this qualification fpecified? Scripture is filent. The fpirit of God hath not given us the remotest hint of it."' Indeed! not even the remoteft hint! No, continues he, "the terms of the gofpel covenant are no where, in the facred pages, connected with, or made to depend upon, either the minifter, or the form of the miniftry." This is a very extraordinary affertion. Had Dr. Campbell's footman inftructed a heathen Negro in the first principles of Chriftianity, and then toffed him into a river without uttering one word either in prayer to his God or in exhortation to his convert, would fuch a plunge have anfwered the purpofe of Chriftian baptifm to the poor favage? Nay, had the Doctor himself baptized his fervant's convert, unto John's baptifm; had he said, when he dipt the man or poured water upon him, "I baptize thee unto repentance;' or indeed had he used any other form of words than "I baptize thee in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghoft," would he have administered to the Savage the facrament of Chriftian baptifm? No man will fay fo; and therefore it follows, that the terms of the gospel-covenant must be connected, in this inftance, with the form of the ministry. (To be continued.) .. Sketches of the State of Manners and Opinions in the French Republic, towards the Clofe of the 18th Century; in a Series of Letters. By Helen Maria Williams. 2 Vols. 8vo. Robinfons. London. 1801. N this work we have the ftrongeft poffible proof, how liable the heart is to corruption when it affociates with iniquity. The authorefs began her literary career with a few poetic trifles, which were not only harmless but amufing; fhe then adventured a little farther, and attempted a fkirmish or two in the field of politics. Even here, although her opinions were fufficiently reprehenfible, yet was fhe endured on account of her youth, her real ignorance of fuch fubjects, notwithstanding notwithstanding the plaufibility of the fhape in which they appeared, and the hope that with age would come wisdom. Had the paffed her days in this country, this hope of her friends might have been realized; but what good can be expected from "one who has lived amidst the scenes of a French revolution," and been the admirer and eulogift of almost every act of tyranny, but that which endangered the fafety of herself and "her cavalier." But to use her own words, " it is the curfe of revolutionary calamities to indurate the heart." Where is then the wonder, if we find this writer, in the work before us, degraded into the fulfome panygerift and mean fycophant of Buonaparte, and his measures? As we forefee that our comments, on these mischievous letters, will neceffarily be fomewhat long, we fhall not lofe time by any further obfervations; but proceed to the object we have in view, namely, to offer an antidote for the wound her poifoned "darts," may inflict on folly and imbecility; for, on fense and sound principle, we are satisfied they will ftrike "harmless." The ift, 2d, and 3d letters are on the fubject of the Swifs revolution. The real infenfibility, with which the difcuffes the neceffity of a change of government in that unhappy country, is truly difgufting; and her affected forrow over the crimes and miferies it introduced is more infulting to the fufferers, than all the fetes celebrated by the conquerors. Is it poffible to read fuch refined condolence, as the following with patience? "Haften, my dear Sir, to chear us with tidings of confolation; and although you cannot reftore the wafte of life, and "Back to its manfions call the fleeting breath; "let us at laft he informed that you have paffed through all your honors; and that brighter profpects open themselves before you." And all this fine ftuff in the very heat and flaughter, occafioned by the overthrow of the Swiss confederacy!!! The conclufion of the 3d letter is an affecting account of the fufferings and death of the Abbot of Engelberg; what a pity he did not furvive the wreck of his country, had it only been to have read her lamentations. Letter the 4th is on the Lofs of her Sifter. We do not intrude into the forrows of domeftic life; if fhe felt half she has expreffed, the is entitled to commiferation; but we are apt to think the fhallowest ftreams make the loudeft noife. Letters the 5th and 6th are on the subject of the privileged Orders, Priefts, Negro Slavery, Peafants, &c. On which fruitful topics, fhe defcants with her cuftomary fluency and intelligence. "Every day," fays fhe, fome fuperanuated prejudice drops off the scene, and encreases the mafs of happiness to the republic;" indeed, what before Buonaparte's reign? "The kneeling flave no longer lifts up his fettered hands and enquires, am I not a man and a brother;' at the returning periods of toil, the harsh NO, XXXIV, VOL, VIII. Dd call call of the tyrant's lafh no longer grates upon his ears, &c. &c. • While it this country his fable reprefentative feated amidft fenators, his tawny vifage peeping out from his robes of gold and fcarlet joins, with his former mafters, in directing the concerns of the country by which he is adopted.' And yet her hero has put an end to this beautiful exhibition, and we are with out one pathetic groan! "Look at that extended empire which bordering clofe on the humanized countries of Europe, &c. &c. Look at that unhappy race under the dominion of that magnanimous fovereign,' who ftands forth at prefent, the avenger of regular governments against the barbarifm and anti-focial irruptions of the French republic. Does your blood flow in its wonted current ? does no fwell of indignation heave your bofom?" &c. &c. will This is all very pretty; but you must change your note, or you not be admitted even into the antichamber of Madame la Premiere Conful. Woe be to thofe in Paris, who, now even dare to raise a finger against" turning loose the barbarous hordes of the North;" (P. 59.) the fcene is altered; and in a next publication, we may expect to fee thefe "barbarous hordes" changed into the mild and gentle promoters of the "mafs of human happinefs." Letters 7th and 8th are an attempt to refute Mallet du Pan's account of the deftruction of Helvetic liberty; and a feeble one it is; it is the conteft of the mole with the lion; and excites only aftonishment at the impotent audacity of the former. Letter 9th fubject. 66 on the National Inftitute" has no information on the Letters the 10th and 11th are on the "Revolution of the 30th of Prairial," and "on Jacobins and the Coalition." Of the former we now think little, and care lefs; it was too ephemeral to excite the flighteft notice beyond the walls of Paris. The latter affords her an opportunity of much fine declamation on Paul the 1ft and Suwarrow; and Goths, Vandals, Alarics, Attila's, and Odoacers" dance in confufion" through the writer's page.* Letters 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, are an hiftorical detail of the revolution, and counter-revolution, of Naples; in which, as might naturally be expected, glory, courage, patriotifm, forbearance, and virtue are heaped upon the French and the rebels ; and fhame, difgrace, cowardice, cruelty, and violation of engagement, are attempted to be affixed upon Britain and her Allies. More glaring injuftice, falfhood, and partiality, we have never read in the fame fpace of narration. The hero of the Nile feems to be the particular object of the lady's malignity. The King is a fool, a knave, and a treacherous tyrant, and the Queen and Lady Hamilton are only equalled by a Margaret of the North, or a Semiramis of the East!!! The libel on Lady Hamilton, will, we hope, be fub * Vide the Epilogue of Gen. Fitzpatrick for the theatre at Richmond House. "While figures, fuch as 'fquires don't often reach, 2 jected jected to the cognizance of another tribunal. It would be a waste of time to controvert or difprove the wilful errors, flagrant misrepresentations, and grofs falfhoods of her statements refpecting this revolution in Naples. Pofterity will not be injured by them, for nothing the writes will ever reach it; and the prefent generation KNOWING their fallacy, will only feel contempt for the meanness of that mind, and the levity of that heart in which they were engendered. So utterly has the loft herself by this elaborate and studied defence of the unprincipled tools of the Directory, that we fincerely hope her "iron fate" will for ever detain her within the "rayon conftitutionel of Paris." (P. 245.) Letter 18th, on Monuments, has in it nothing worthy notice. Letter 19 has fome confiftent reflections on Suwarrow's paffage of the Mountains, and Buonaparte's Adventures in Egypt; the ufual execration of the one, and admiration of the other; and these mighty names are followed by a nonfenfical, abfurd ftory of Perourou a "bellows-mender, written by himself." This vile stuff occupies 50 pages; and thus are books made! Letters 20 and 21 are of the ufual trifling fort; they may eke out the volume in point of quantity; but as to quality they afford neither amusement nor inftruction. Letter 22," Return of Bonaparte," Bonaparte returned! my heart beats quick with expectation of what? new revolutions ?" All fear of the coalition, of Paul, of Suwarrow, of Jacobins! feems to vanish with the return of her hero, and fhe now laughs at former terrors. Her defcription of the late coalition and its heterogeneous particles is not ill done. "It furely required no lefs an event than a French revolution, to have joined, in folemn league and covenant, the defcendants of John Knox and the modern Babylon; or to lead the northern bear, tricked out in the caft off infignia of the Knights of Jerufalem, to pay his fofteft homage to the palefaced crefcent, enamoured in its turn of this muscovite Endymion. No gift of political forefight is wanting to foretel the fate of fuch alliances." True; neither is the fame gift required to foretel the fate of an alliance between her Corfican deity, and this Mufcovite Endymion. Set the latter aftride on the walls of Valetta, and he will pay no more attention to the "foft homage" of the great Conful, than he now does to the wooings of the pale-faced Crescent. Letters 23, 24, and 25 on the revolution which placed her favourite on the throne of France, and on the conftitution, are in the fame light and trifling ftile with thofe of the Bellows-mender, or any other of her fictitious works. For the real facts and tranfactions of that important period we will not rely on the authority of fo prejudiced a fpectator, of fo partial an hiftorian, of one who relates, as though the had an internal view of the Conful's heart," that while he was impelled to do a ftrange and daring deed, by the irrefiftible impulfe of acting for the falvation of his country, his firft and most important duty, he regretted as fincerely, and as poignantly as the most enthusiastic friend of liberty, the means." Had it fuited his purpose to have D d 2 affumed |