heretics, and infidels. It is not to be fuppofed, however, that he expected every new hero in this annual exercife to appear with new weapons, nor to practise a new set of manoeuvres. If the old arms be neatly furbished up, and fufficient proof be given that the art of ufing them is not loft, this is all that will be thought abfolutely neceffary in order to comply with the will of the teftator. At leaft, this is all that has been attempted by the champion of the year 1792.

This courfe of lectures is nothing more than a very brief and general recapitulation of leading arguments refpecting the Chriftian religion, drawn up for the information and improvement of young perfons. The author's plan, with his reasons for adopting it, is thus expreffed in the opening of the first fer

mon:

⚫ In an age when the real fubftance of our religion is misrepresented by men of the most oppofite characters and intentions; when the manner, in which it has been received and conveyed down to us, is traduced by the most infidious and unfupported infinuations; when the arguments in its defence are ftudioufly disjoined from each other and frittered away by fucceffive detractions of many of their moft convincing parts! and when the whole body of old objections against our religion is recalled, and enforced by new ones, which are every day fuggefted by an adventurous and fceptical philofophy; in fuch an age it is confpicuously our duty to fortify our minds by the information, comprehended under the general topics of Christian Theology, which I have above enumerated. Difcourfes alfo on fuch general topics may well be interfperfed among others on the particular parts of our religious profeffion which the founder of this Lecture has wifely marked out, as fubjects of our difcuffion. Thus interfperfed, they will conduce, on an extended fcale, to fimilar good purposes with thofe reflexions at large on any human fcience; which in the progrefs of difquifitions on particular branches of it, enable us from time to time to form fuch adequate con. ceptions of the whole, as are found to be effential to a full comprehenfion of the inftructions, which are communicated even on its most detached and minute divifions. Such general information, moreover, cannot fail of being eminently ferviceable to the younger part of my audience, for whole benefit this Inftitution was peculiary calculated. Since without it early improvements in religious knowlege will be fo defultory and imperfect, as to afford little reafon to expect, either that theological ftudents will be fufficiently inftructed to qualify them in future life to teach others, or (what ought never to be an object of kís ferious concern) that young and unexperienced minds in general will themselves be effectually guarded against that most extenfive fpecies of infidelity, which is founded on ignorance of the real circum

"From the several converfations which it has been my chance to have with unbelievers I have learned that ignorance of the nature of our religion, and a difinclination to study both it and its evidences are to be reckoned among the chief caufes of infidelity." Beattie's Evidences, vol. i. p. 6. F 4 ftances

ftances of our religion, and is conftantly betraying itfelf by infignificant and impertinent objections against its truth, and by that fenfelefs blafphemy which fo often fhocks the ears of good men in private converfation. Truth, indeed, has on all occafions fo much force, that, when clearly propofed, it must command attention and refpect: but the truths of Chriftianity are, farther, fo admirably calculated to fatisfy the hopes of the best men, and to allay the penitential fears of the worst; that, wherever they are early and thoroughly understood, prejudice, inftead of exerting itself against them, mult co-operate with reafon in their favour, and fecure for them fuch influence on an uncorrupted heart, as the oppofition of ignorance will in vain attempt to destroy.

Since, then, a general difcuffion of the great topics, under which I have diftributed the confideration of our religion, and which are of extent fufficient to enable us to comply with the command of the text, is well fuited to the prefent times, is expedient at proper intervals amidst the particular fubjects prefcribed for this Lecture, and, moreover, is likely to be of the most important fervice to the younger part of my audience; I fhall confine myfelf to it in the following difcourfes, and, without any apology for calling your attention to truths of which you must often before have heard the greater part, or any farther introduction, I shall propofe it in general terms as my defign to state, what our religion is, what the manner in which it has been received and conveyed down to us, what the arguments by which its truth is defended, and what the objections with which it is affailed. Or, to propofe my defign with its particular limitations, I fhall endeavour firft, to ftate regularly the fubitance of our religion from its earliest declarations in the fcriptures of both the Old and New Teftament to its complete publication after the refurrection of Chrift;-fecondly, to give a sketch of the history of our religion from its complete publication after the refurrection of Chrift to the prefent times; confining, however, this sketch, towards the conclufion, to the particular hiftory of our own church;-thirdly, to ftate in a fummary manner the arguments adducible in proof of the truth of our religion;-and, fourthly, to point out the general fources of objection against it, and to fhew that a forcible removal of thefe offences by divine interpofi tion would be inconfiftent with our religion itfelf; concluding the whole with a particular account of those objections, which are advanced against our religion from the pretenfions of philofophy.'

General views of Chriftianity, fuch as thefe lectures undertake to give, are certainly ufeful to thofe who are hitherto uninformed on thefe fubje&s; which there is too much reason to apprehend is the cafe with the greater number of graduates, notwithstanding the fubfcription to the thirty-nine articles, ftill demanded, on matriculation, in the University of Oxford :but there ought to be, in University education, fome more 'complete and effectual method of teaching young men in general the principles of their religion, than a courte of eight fermons, which, after all, will probably be heard, or read, by only a very few students; and it feems reafonable to expect that annual lectures

lectures of this kind fhould rather be addreffed to the public at large than to the undergraduates of the Univerfity, and should bear on them ftronger marks of ftudy and erudition than we discover in this volume.

The part on which Dr. Eveleigh appears to have bestowed moft labour is the fketch of Ecclefiaftical hiftory contained in the second, third, and fourth fermons. The following is his account of the effects produced in the Chriftian church by the converfion of heathen philofophers:

⚫ That before the civil eftablishment of Chriftianity there were many heathen philofophers, diftinguifhed by fuch a converfion to its belief, as might be expected from the enquiries of thofe good men among them, who did not find its evidences fictitious, is indifputable. Their enquiries also were often excited in a manner, the most creditable to our religion. In the fchools of their celebrated leaders these philofophers had been inftructed concerning the excellency of virtue, and had heard of its fuperiority to all worldly affliction and even to death itself. But the schools, which they frequented, could fupply them only with the theory of this heroism. When, therefore, they faw their ad mired fpeculations realized in Chriftian martyrs; when they faw illiterate crouds prefs forward with eagerness to meet fufferings, which it would have been the most ardent with of other men to avoid; when they faw alfo that stedfastness in fuffering, which they had before thought to be more than human, difplay itfelf in women and children; they were divefted of the common prejudices again the fufferers, and led to enquire into the foundation of this unufual fortitude. And their enquiries, thus ultimately directed to the miraculous evidences of our religion, often ended in a profeffion of the fame faith and a difplay of the fame fortitude. Such was the converfion of Tertullian; and fuch was the converfion and glorious death alfo of Juftin Martyr.

• From fome, indeed, of these converts arole evils of the moft feri ous confequence to Christianity. The prejudices, incident to human nature, fuffered not all the new and philofophical believers in our religion to facrifice the learning of their fchools to its folemn, but fimple, truths. Hence numerous fects of both Gnoftic and Platonic Chriftians who mingled human knowledge of different kinds with divine revelation in their religious tenets: hence revelation was wrefted to fupport fanciful conjectures, herefies were introduced, the peace of the infant church disturbed, and a foundation laid for thofe numberlefs diffentions, which added (as was before remarked) to the anxiety of Chriftian paftors during the time of perfecution, and prevented them in future ages from enjoying the happy effects of toleration and establishment.'

At the clofe of thefe hiftorical difcourfes, a fummary is given of the thirty-nine articles, which the author confiders as an excellent compendium of our religion, and by no means calculated to give offence, even in the parts in which they are im mediately directed againft adverfaries.-How widely have learned and good men differed on this head! E. ART.

ART. XXIII. The Complaints of the Poor People of England: con taining Remarks, Part I. I. On Government. Part II. I. II. The Defects in the English Government, as to Reprefentation. III. The Ignorance of the Poor, and the Imperfection of the Laws. IV. Difproportion between Crimes and Punishments. V. Capital Punishments. Part III. I. The Royal Household and Public Expenditure. II. The Church. III. The Law-Courts. IV. The Army. V. The Navy. VI. The Schools. VII. Poor-Rates and PoorHouses. VIII. Public Hofpitals. IX. Prifons. X. Feudal and Seignoral Rights, Labourers, and Manufacturers. Part IV. I. Addrefs to the Friends of Reform. II. Balance of Opinions. III. Price of Provifions and Labour; Rules for Provident Societies; Free Schools; Workhouses; Addrefs of Ladies at Walworth; Of Mr. Muir, and Mr. F. Palmer. By G. Dyer, B. A. late of Emanuel College, Cambridge. Second Edition, corrected, altered, and much enlarged. 8vo. pp. 119. 25. Ridgway. 1793.

QUITABLY to adjuft the oppofite claims of the poor and the rich is one of the most important and most difficult offices of government. It will fcarcely be difputed by any humane obferver of the ftate of the world, that almost every form of government at prefent exifting is too favourable to the rich while, on the contrary, it must be owned that a government may be conceived, which fhall be too indulgent to the poor. This would evidently be the cafe in a state in which the ftability of property fhould be fhaken, and the free enjoyment of it should be reftrained, by the frequent inftitution of agrarian and fumptuary laws. Inftances in which laws bear hard on the poor, and facts to prove that a due attention has not been hitherto paid to their rights and their comforts, even under the excellent form of government eftablished in this country, will be found in abundance in the work before us. The author pleads with great zeal the cause of the poor. He may therefore be fuppofed to lean toward their immediate interefts more than would be confiftent with the general profperity of a great commercial nation :-but his obfervations on the grievances and hardships of the poor, arifing from the various causes, immediate or remote, which are enumerated under the several heads fpecified in the title, are the evident refult of diligent inquiry. His facts, though perhaps in feveral inftances stated with fome degree of exaggeration, are so numerous and striking as to leave an irrefiftible impreffion on the mind of the reader, that the complaints of the poor of England are not wholly unfounded; and that it is the duty, and may ere long appear to be the wifdom, of the higher orders of fociety to liften to fuch plans of reform, as, without disturbing the public tranquillity, may diffufe, as well as increase, the public ftock of happiness.

I

To

To attend Mr. Dyer through all his wide excurfions would be to give a fummary of all the prefent political complaints. We fhall lay before our readers a fingle extract on the fubject of Poor-Rates and Poor-Houses:

• The prefent mode of fupporting the poor by rates is liable to this infuperable objection, viz. That people who themselves require fupport, are obliged to contribute to others. The plan, therefore, for having part of the furplufage of the taxes applied to the support of the poor, and for abolishing the poor-rates, is, I think, humane and judicious. Though a just government will have no furplusage of taxes. ⚫ However, at all events, the poor-rates ought to be abolished. In America, Scotland, and Ireland, there are no poor-rates but the poor are not therefore neglected. In Scotland the poor are fupported by church collections; by fmall fines impofed on delinquents; by dues paid for baptifms and marriages out of the church; by small affeffments, according to the valued rents of heretors and tenants; by legacies, clubs, and donations of individuals. The affeffments are raifed by the heretors themselves, by mutual confent; but are not raised at all, unless where church collections fail; very different these from the poor-rates in England. For in the cafe of an affeffment, "if, after one, or two calls, at moft, the money is not paid, the perfon may be fummoned before two juftices, to answer for such refufal or neglect, and their goods may be diftrained."

While I am on this fubject, I will infert the following table, with which I have been favoured by a friend; taken from a Report of a Committee of the Houfe of Commons, appointed to infpect and confider the Returns of Overseers, relative to the State of the poor in the year 1787.

Parish Affeffments to the Poor Rates in England. "The whole fum raifed in England, taken upon a medium calculation on the fums raised in the years 1783, 1784, and 1785,

£.2,100,587

"The nett money applied to the use of the poor, and their immediate relief, only

£. 1,496,129 "The rest of the fum railed goes in parish entertainments, overfeers expences, and larvfuits!!

"The medium expence of lawfuits, concerning the poorlaws, taken upon a calculation within the years abovementioned, amounted to

£.53,757 115. The poor-rates are an evil, which fometimes increafe through the interference of parifh-officers. Several houses of small rents, in different parishes in London were formerly not rated, but now are, to the great oppreffion of the poor tenants; and fometimes it happens, that the overfeers abfcond with the money, and, in that cafe, the rate is repeated.

I mention this fact to the honour of a market town in Hertfordshire in which, I am informed, five fhillings have not been spent in enter

See a small pamphlet, entitled, "The Duty of Overseers of the Poor, to be delivered to them at their Appointment;" published 1792." tainments,