and good King William, A. D. 1688: a period dear to the remembrance of every loyal subject. For at that time popery, and arbitrary government, were coming in like a flood. But it pleased God to lift up the standard against them; and Britons had the happiness to see the bible and the sceptre rescued from their enemies, and entrusted to the guardianship of the illustrious houses of Nassau and Hanover. Thus by the Bill of Rights and the subsequent proceedings, that constitution of order and freedom was recognized and established; which ORIGINA TING IN THE WILL, and regarding the happiness of the people, yet maintaining the subordination of rank, and the distribution of legislative and executive power, in three estates of king, nobles, and commons, has deservedly been the admiration of the world, and the boast and enjoyment of Englishmen." Now, as we most cordially agree with the preacher in his panegyrics on that glorious work, the Revolution of 1688, and the subsequent proceedings to which he alludes, we are compelled to add, that the admiration with which we contemplate that distinguished period, prevents us from joining in similar panegyrics at a period when we are deprived of some of the most important of those privileges restored at the revolution. By the Act of Settlement passed in the 1st year of William III. it was declared-THAT NO PERSON WHO HAS AN OFFICE OF PLACE, OR PRO FIT UNDER THE KING, OR RECEIVES supplied, and the fruits of honest industry are still enjoyed." Now, although the dinners given to the poor on the jubilee day, have constituted such a wonderful theme for panegyric, yet we must confess, that they are rather to be considered as a proof of the extreme necessities of the poor. Can we with truth or decency proclaim, that "the wants of the poor are liberally supplied," when, the number of paupers have increased during the present reign SIX-FOLD, and when misery so abounds amongst the lower classes of the people, that a dinner of butcher's meat is in many places to them a rarity? And so far from the fruits of honest industry being enjoyed by the middle ranks,-Where is the man who does not most sensibly feel the oppressive burthens of the income and the assessed taxes, more especially as they are now most rigorously levied? Are there not at the moment we are writing, warrants of distress issuing against that numerous class of our fellow subjects, who after being deprived of the common comforts of life," the fruits of their honest industry," are no longer able to provide even its necessaries? And is the nation at such a season to be insulted with panegyrics on its happy state, because truly to encourage the celebration of a jubilee, our paupers have been provided with a dinner, and a mug of beer? To excite the "liveliest gratitude" on this occasion, we are presented with similar extravagant panegyrics on the general measures of the present reign. The following extract will be sufficient for the amusement of our readers. MONS! Shortly after an act was passed confirming the right of the people to TRIENNIAL PARLIAMENTS! Have we not since been robbed of these, and indeed of many other constitutional rights? If the preacher therefore is sincere in his encomiums. "But the attention of the public mind on the constitution as it was settled is this day particularly directed to the at the Revolution, he cannot be sin- protracted life, and accumulated honors cere in his encomiums on the consti- of our beloved and revered King. With tution in its present mutilated state! the 50th year of his most arduous and pleasure we contemplate his entrance on As an additional reason for a na-interesting reign: a pattern to his royal tional jubilee, we are informed “ that family and to the united empire of perthe wants of the poor are liberally sonal, domestic, and general virtue. Had such a life been cut off suddenly or other monarchs and their families have The remainder of the discourse runs much in the same strain as in those We have already noticed. The cuckoo 1 note of our jubilee preachers, respecting our sovereign" not breaking his coronation oath" is again repeated; and the royal promise, "I will maintain the toleration inviolable," is printed in large capitals.— What do our loyal divines mean by so repeatedly reminding the king of a promise which he made fifty years ago? We really do not mistrust our gracious sovereign, and therefore we think reminding him perpetually of a promise he has faithfully kept, is no striking proof of either respect or loyalty. We are the more surprised at such a sermon from the pastor of the Baptish society at Worcester, as we have some reason to suspect, he has not always been the panegyrist of the measures of the present reign. If we are not mistaken, he has at times used language not the most respectful of a certain monarch, on account of the wars in which he has been so often and so long engaged, and which the preacher has not been in the constant habit of pronouncing either very just or very necessary. It is sad to remark how many instances have ocurred in the present day, in which not only statesmen, and worldly minded politicians, but even ministers of the gospel, have veered about to different points of the political compass, driven to and fro by the breath of popularity. We therefore most cordially recommend to such persons, and indeed to all persons, habitually to adopt one of the petitions of our author, with which, as the most devout, and the very best part of his discourse, we are happy to conclude this article. Another, and very necessary blessing which we should at this time seek, is the grace of SINCERITY; that our hearts might be renewed and made upright; that in our expressions of gratitude and benevolent affection, we may be made and kept HONEST, as well as zealous; and that our lives, may correspond with our lips, in a steady, consistent obedience to the will of God!" The British Jubilee A Sermon delivered in the parish-church of St. James, and at the Mayor's Chapel, in Bristol, on Oct. 25, 1809. when His Most Gracious Majesty,George III. entered on the 50th. year of his reign. By the Rev. Tho. T. Biddulph, A. M. Minister of the said Parish, and Chaplain to the Rt. Hon. the Dowager Lady Bagot. p.41, 28.!! To this discourse is prefixed the following dedication. "To the churchwardens, vestrymen, and the other loyal inhabitants of the parish of St. James, the following humble token of respect for THE BEST OF KINGS and THE BEST OF GOVERN MENTS, is respectfully inscribed, as a memorial of their sentiments and his own, by their obliged and obedient servant, The Author." The text of this sermon is 2 Chron. ix. 8. containing the just encomium of the Queen of Sheba on the government of the wisest of earthly princes, SOLOMON; and whose wisdom was remarkably displayed by the PEACEABLE SYSTEM which constituted the glorious characteristic of his reign! Such is the " eulogistic address" which the preacher has selected, as the most suitable text for a jubilee sermon, on the entrance of his most gracious Majesty, George III. on the 50th. year of his reign, The preacher dismisses his text almost as soon as he has taken it, and indeed after reading the sermon we commend his policy in so doing; for many of his opinions on religion, and most of his opinions on politics, are as contrary to the maxims of SOLOMON, and the gospel of CHRIST, as falsehood is to truth, and darkness to light. Having done with his text, and indeed with his bible, the preacher presents us with his sentiments on the subject of civil government in general, and which may be comprised in one or two short sentences -All governments are divine, and all are to be obeyed-Passive obedience 1 and Non-Resistance are the duties of subjects under all monarchical governments. These positions have long since been sufficiently refuted, and were indeed consigned to oblivion at. the glorious Revolution; and, notwithstanding the corruption and degeneracy of the times, mankind in general, and Britons in particular, are not so debased as to assent to political doctrines, as irrational, unconstitutional, and unscriptural, as they are detestable. It cannot excite surprise that a preacher entertaining such sentiments, should discover his enmity against the writer who, perhaps, most of all writers, successfully combated them, the illustrious LOCKE-a man who al though reviled by the preacher, on account of both his political and religious opinions, was very far his su perior both in talents and integrity.* As a specimen of Mr. Biddulph's integrity as an author, we beg leave to refer to his "Letter to the Rev. John Hey" (late of Bristol) in which, mentioning the late Mr. Towgood's unanswerable work A Dissent from the Church of England fully justified, &c.-Mr. B. without quoting a single sentence, passes the following censure." Towgood's let"ters are interspersed with the most aw"ful Socinian sentiments."An assertion, the offspring of either consummatę ignorance or wilful falsehood! Mr. B. very duce a single Socinian sentiment from well knew that he could not prothe work in question, and that Mr. Towgood, although he did not, like Mr. B. damn every one who did not keep the Athanasian faith, whole and undefiled, (thus dooming to eternal torments such Doddridge) was an opposer of Socinianmen as Tillotson, Burnet, Watts, and ism. The reader may naturally enquire -What could induce Mr. B. to publish so palpable an untruth? The reason is obvious. Conscious that he could not answer Mr. Towgood's arguments, and fearing lest his people should read, examine, and judge for themselves, he branded the author with a name which he well knew would, with the generality of his flock, operate as a charm to prevent them from a perusal of the "ler" But let this " mousing owl hawk at the eagle" without interruption! His puny efforts are harmless. In a note on this part of the subject we are presented with the following curious quotation from a writer of the name of Whitaker. "Government then is all Divine, Divine in its origin, Divine in its energies, and claiming obedience from the conscience of man in the name of its divine establisher. Nor let us hesitate in a petty scrupulosity of spirit about the mode of government instituted by GoD; and suppose that, though government in the abstract was appointed by GoD, yet government in the concrete, government in any one form, was not appointed by him. No government can be appointed in the abstract. Even GOD himself has not power to do this. Omnipotence itself must be baffled, if it should exercise its power for the production of a nonentity. All government appointed must be exhibited in a reality, substantiated into a form. Such a regimen GOD esta blished upon the earth, in the personal rule of Adam over Eve, in the personal authority of Adam primarily, and of Eve secondarily, over the children of both. MONARCHY therefore is the primary, the natural, the Divine form of government for man. All history accordingly records it to have been the original form. -Nor was that deviation from it, that illegitimate and spurious mode of polity, a COMMON-WEALTH, ever obtruded on the world till a late æra; till man began to bewilder himself in the mazes of his own imagination about government, and wildly fancy he could improve upon the very models of GOD himself." What a pity the preacher does not cross the Atlantic, and try to persuade the people of America to overturn their spurious mode of polity-a com"mon-wealth," and adopt that only divine form of government-A Monarchy! Should he ever be inclined to make the attempt, we recommend to him the following text for his in ters". Mr. Locke of whose religious and political principles Mr. B. speaks with contempt, would have had his right hand cut off sooner than have been guilty of a trick so unbecoming the sincere Christian, and the honest man! troductory sermon: 1 SAM, viii, 6-18. or-Hosea xiii. 11. After these general remarks on the divine origin of kingly governments, the preacher proceeds with great inconsistency to panegyrise the pecu liar excellencies of the British government—a government in its origin founded on the will and the sovereignty of the people! It is, however, impossible for an admirer of the doctrine of indefeasible right, and a supporter of those corruptions and abuses, which, if unreformed, must termi nate in the ruin of the British constitution, to be its sincere friend, Mr. B. has quoted Montesquieu on the excellence of our genuine constistitution; but he forgot to quote the prediction of the illustrious foreigner, that this constitution will oneday perish, in consequence of the corruption of the representative branch! An awful prediction, the fulfilment of which we earnestly pray it may never be our doom to witness! Mr. B. proceeds to consider " the propriety of observing the jubilee," which his truly apostolic church," has " so wisely and piously" required her members to celebrate. So great is the blessing granted,-that of our sovereign entering on the 50th, year of his reign, that the preacher breaks out on the occasion in the following rapturous strains. "On this blessed day the jubileetrumpet sounds throughout our land. It proclaims an instance of divine goodness which has rarely been vouchsafed to any nation, and which is but twice recorded in the annals of our own national history. Did I say rarely vouchsafed to nation? Did I admit that a simi→ any lar instance has been twice recorded in "the annals of our own national history?" I retract what I have said. For when (I may ask) has any similar blessing, taking it in all its circumstances, ever been vouchsafed? I may deny that any such instance, parallel in the extent of benefit, has ever been recorded! We have been indulged for nearly half a century with the paternal government of a mild, upright, and conscientious monarch, who has defended the faith of our church from infringement, and has sanctioned her services by a constant personal attendance-who has carefully avoided the slightest violation of our civil and religious liberties, and who has made the happiness of his subjects the scope of bis administration-who has restrained immorality, the true source of national and individual misery, by his laws; and who has enforced and encouraged religion and virtue, the true fountain of national, domestic, and individual prosperity, by his own bright example-who (I add) has firmly maintained the sanctity of his coronation-oath by a vigorous opposition to the spirit of religious persecution on the one hand, and to the spirit of dangerous innovation on the other. "Whatever differences may have agitated the public mind on the subject of the measure which has been improperly styled the catholic emancipation, surely there can be but one sentiment concern ing the firm and dignified conduct with which bis Majesty maintained what ap peared to his mind to be his duty on that occasion, and the prudence and vigilance with which, unaided by any advisers, he resisted the attempt to introduce an innovation which he could not approve." responsible to his subjects for his conduct! The preacher knows indeed he is pretty safe in expressing his opinion of the acts of the sovereign. Men of his sentiments, in all countries, are sure to panegyrise the reigning prince as the best of kings, and all his acts as, the best of acts. He assures us on the present occa sion" that there can be but one sen"timent concerning the firm and "dignified conduct of his Majesty" in refusing to accede to the wishes of the Irish nation in extending the blessings of Toleration. Standing on constitutional ground, we must beg leave to express our firm " opinion," that more unhappy advice could not have been given to the sovereign, than that by which he was induced to refuse to the catholics what had been so frequently, and solemnly promised in his name, by his miniBiddulph's idol, Mr. PITT, and to sters, and more particularly by Mr. protestant dissenters what their constitutional and loyal conduct have long given them a right to claimAn equality of privileges in civil society with their fellow citizens. One more rapturous strain will, we trust, fully satisfy even the most flattering of the flatterers. both of which cost our forefathers toil Leaving these sublime effusions to the admiration of all true, orthodox, "apostolic churchmen, we cannot but remark, what an admirable proof "For the blessings of the best constithe preacher here gives of his regard tution in the world, and those of the true to the principles of the British consti- religion, purged from long existing error, tution! It is an axiom" that the and sweat and blood, are ours freely "King can do no wrong" not that and richly to enjoy. Did the jubilee the sovereign is incapable of doing trumpet announce liberty to the captive wrong, but that the constitution has Israelite, and legal security in the posexempted him from responsibility, session of his inheritance to the impove that it may the more effectually fasten rished inhabitant of Palestine? Behold, responsibility on his advisers: but the trumpet this day announces that liMr. B. informs us, that in an impor-glish shores, and that the poorest among berty IN ALL HER GLORY exists on Entant act, involving in it the welfare of the whole people of Ireland, his Majesty is to be considered as un"aided by any advisers." This abominable doctrine, adopted as a principle of government, would indeed tend to the total overthrow of the constitution. If the King has no advisers, then he must be personally 66 Britons is secure in the possession of life and property. I might almost venture to ask,-Where, in the WHOLE WORLD, is liberty to be found, but under the shadow of the British throne ?" But the preacher is not content with offering up these strains of disgusting adulation to the sovereign only: the general measures of his cour |