DOMESTIC LITERATURE Of the Year 1786. ΤΗ "HE year 1786 hath not been remarkable, either for the number or value of its theological productions. We meet with a few, however, which may afford us defirable aid in our critical enquiries; or which claim our notice from the pious and benevolent intentions with which they were publifhed, and the respectable characters of their authors. In this number we find he Holy Bible; containing the Books of the Old and New Teftaments, carefully printed from the first Edition, (compared with others) of the prefent Tranflation: with Notes, by the right reverend father in God, Thomas Wilfon, D. D. lord Bishop of Sodor and Man; and various renderings, collected from other Tranflations, by the reverend Clement Crutwell, the Editor," three volumes quarto. The character of the venerable prelate is easily discovered in the manner and fpirit with which this work is executed. He was diftinguifhed, during a very long life, by the excellence of his heart, and his endeavours to be useful to mankind, more than by the fplendor of genius, or profound literary acquire ments. That reader, therefore, will be difappointed, who expects to meet in these volumes with much critical information, or new and ingenious expofitions of difficult paffages of fcripture. The good 1786. bishop's notes were chiefly intended by him for the familiar explana tion, or practical improvement of the facred writings, while he read them daily in his family; and, for that purpofe, they were written by him in the margin of his Bible, as they were at different times fuggefted by his own mind, or collected from the writings of others. It will not then excite any furprize, that fometimes they fhould appear rather fanciful and incongruous; and defective in that degree of reafoning and evidence, by which we with all interpretations of fcripture to be attended. Nor can we avoid lamenting, notwithstanding all our prejudices in favour of the bishop, that any fentences fhould be found in his remains, which the candid and liberal fpirit of an improving age must condemn. Mr. Crutwell, to whom the revifion and publication of this work was entrusted by the late Dr. Thomas Wilson, the fon of the bifhop, hath greatly increafed its value, by inferting in the margin, various renderings of particular paffages, drawn from a great number of tranflations and verfions of the Bible. These renderings, together with the biographical sketches of feveral of our tranflators and commentators, which are given us in the preface, do honour to the induftry and good fenfe of the editor, and will render this part of the work not unacceptable to the biblical fcholar and critic. bation and encouragement. This work confifts of an account of the ftate of the original text; of the various editions of the Bible in different languages, with their different characters, and of the method which he intends to follow in his own edition. This account is, in general fo perfpicuous and impartial; and the principles on which he propofes to proceed, are fo fair and reafonable, that we fincerely with him fuccefs in his very laborious and very important undertak Dr. Hodgson, principal of Hert ford College, Oxford, hath acquired deserved praife, by his endeavour to illuftrate the meaning and beauty of "Solomon's Song," which he hath "tranflated from the Hebrew." Our author defignedly avoids all difquifition refpecting the fuppofed mystical fenfe of this antient poem. His object is, to give fuch an exact and literal tranflation of it, illuftrated by parallel paffing. Dr Geddes, if we mistake ages from antient authors, as hall render the allegories with which it abounds, clear and intelligible; while, at the fame time, it preferves the distinguithing brilliancy of eastern imagery and compofition. This talk he appears to have executed with confiderable fuccefs. His Vertion is rendered with judgment and fidelity; and, in many places in which it differs from our common tranflation, very happily lucidates the fenfe and elegant fimplicity of the original. The critical notes, likewife, by which Dr. Hodgson juftifies his variations and amendments, carry with them equal marks of his ingenuity, and acquaintance with oriental litera ture. The "Profpetus of a new Tranflation of the Holy Bible, from eorrected Texts of the Originals, compared with the ancient Verfions: with various Readings, explanatory Notes, and critical Cbfervations, by the rev. A. Geddes, LL. D." is a publication which hath very much engaged the attention, and raifed the expectation of the learned. And the liberal candid fpirit with which it is written, together with the fatisfactory tellimonies which it affords to the extenfive abilities of the author, entitle it to general appro5 not, is of the communion of the church of Rome. We rejoice to find, that all denominations of Chriftians feem willing to concur in clearing the facred text from thofe corruptions and abfurdities, which the negligence or ignorance of tranfcribers had gradually introduced. It is an omen favourable to the general diffufion of knowledge and truth. We are happy, likewife, in reflecting, that the fpirit of the times is, at length, become fo tolerant, that the attempt of our author will not excite an illiberal jealoufy in the most confirmed proteftant: that the character under which he defcribes a faithful tranflator, is no longer considered as to be appropriated to any one of the various fects which prevail among Chriflians; but, that in all of them the man may be found, who fhall be unwedded to any fyftem; and forgetting that he belongs to any fociety of Chriftians, be extremely jealous of his moft rational prepoffeffions; keep all theological confequences as far out of his fight as pollible, and inveftigate the meaning of his original by the rules only of a found and fober criticifm." To the lift of writers who have come forward as advocates for re caled vealed religion, the prefent year has added the name of Dr. Beatie. His "Evidences of the Chriftian Religion, briefly and plainly stated, in two vols." feem to have been intended by him, chiefly, for the ufe of perfons who have little leifure for enquiry; or who, from the indolence of their difpofition, would fooner become infidels, than undergo the fatigue of laborious difcution. We could have wished however, that the refpectable talents of our author had not been confined to the production of loofe and almost independent effays on a fubject to which he could have done fuch ample justice. This method of detailing the arguments in favour of our holy religion, though it may adapt them to particular defcriptions of readers, yet it weakens their ftrength and energy, and lef fens the power with which, in their regular connected form, they force conviction on the mind. We muit, nevertheless, do our author the juftice to acknowledge, that as far his method would admit of it, he hath flated feveral of the evidences of the chriftian religion with novelty and addrefs. Such inaccuracies and mistakes as a careful revifion will eafily point out, will, doubtlefs, meet with his correction in future editions; and the work become, what Dr. Beatie wifhes it to be, "ufeful to youth at their firit entrance into the world.” Dr. Prielley, who is indefatigably zealous in the purfuit of whatever he deems to be truth, and who has a gauntlet for every opponent, hath, in his "Letters to the Jews," called out new combatants into the field of controverly. The fingular oppreffions by which that ancient people have been marked, and their difperfion over almost every part of the globe, he attributes to their re je tion of Jefus as the Meffiah; he, therefore, wifhes them to enter on amicable difcuffion of their objec tions against Christianity, and of the evidences by which it is fup. ported. We cannot fufficiently praife the admirable temper which appears in thefe letters. It is mild and affectionate; and well calculated to call forth a fpirit of cool and deliberate investigation. We need not fay that, in the hands of fo able a difputant, the arguments in favour of our author's fide of the question, lofe nothing of their weight and force. Thofe, however, who differ from Dr. Priestley in his views of christian doctrine, will not thank him for relinquithing at the beginning of the controverfy, the fuppofed fuperiority of Jefus to human beings, and the doctrine of his miraculous conception. And there are others who will think, that the profpect with which he flatters the Jews, of a fplendi temporal kingdom, under a prince of the house of David, is rather the creature of a luxuriant fancy, than drawn from any of the repres fentations or prophecies of the faered writings. But independently of the peculiar opinions of our author, we rejoice that by the prefint publication, the attention of the ingenious and learned among the Jews, is likely to be directed to an enquiry into the fcriptural character of the Meffiah, and the claims of Jefus Christ. And we hope to find their writings on this fubject, dictated by the fame liberal candid fpirit which thefe letters difcover. To the unwearied zeal which gave rife to the last article, are we to afcribe the fame author's "Hitory of Early Opinions concerning Jefus Chrift, compiled from origi nal Writers; proving that the ChrifP 2 tian tian church was at first Unitarian; prefented the paffages which he hath adduced from antient weiters; or with-hold our praise from him on account of the great labour and attention which he hath benowed on the prefent publication. Neither can we do lefs at the fame time, than admire the boldness with which he courts and provokes oppofition, and offers what he hath written to the most rigorous examination; declaring his readiness to answer at the bar of the public, any important queftions upon the fubject, when properly put to him. It would feem to arife from a perfect conviction that, although in fome trifling inftances he may have been inadvertent, or mistaken, his leading pofition cannot be invalidated by his most learned and ingenious adverfaries. We were mistaken, when we gave it as our opinion in a former Regifter, that the contest between Dr. Horfley and Dr. Priestley was, probably, at an end. The former gentleman hath again entered the lifts, by "Remarks upon Dr. Priestley's fecond Letters to the Archdeacon of St. Alban's, with Proofs of certain Facts afferted by the Archdeacon." He takes care, however, to excufe his long filence by declaring, that he confidered Dr. Priestley as an "indifferent antagonit," whofe "book abounds with new fpecimens of confident ignorance; and of his "incompetency to write on the fubject;' and his fatisfaction that he was at liberty to indulge his indo. lence, without feeming to defert his caufe;" and that his fole reafon for now troubling the public, is to establish fome facts, which had. been too peremptorily denied, and to vindicate his character from afperfions which had been too inconfiderately thrown out. The facts which which he wishes to prove are, Origen's want of veracity in difputation; the existence of orthodox Hebrew Christians in Judea, after the time of Adrian; and the decline of Calvinism, amounting almoft to a total extinction of it amongst English diffenters. On the two former topics, his reasonings are deferving the attention of Dr. Priestley, and will, doubtlefs, meet with it what he hath faid on the latter, is confidered by those who are best acquainted with the state of the diffenters in England, to be totally void of truth. We will not exprefs what we felt from the haughty and virulent language which difgraces the prefent publication. It affects, not the matter in difpute, but the character of Dr. Horfley, as a gentleman, and as a chriftian. Should the contest become perfonal, our readers will not expect that we fhall take any farther notice of it. What we have said in the former article, refpecting the ftate of the English diffenters, has been ably and fatisfactorily confirmed by a pamphlet, entitled "the Calvinifm of Proteftant Diffenters afferted; in a Letter to the Archdeacon of St. Alban's: by Samuel Palmer, Paftor of the Independent Congregation at Hackney;" in which the author, with confiderable advantage, expofes the weak grounds on which Dr. Horfley had built his declaration, and fully establishes the principle for which he contends. The clergymen and lay gentlemen who formed themselves into a fociety, in Effex-street, for the purpofe of promoting the knowledge of the fcriptures, have, fince we took notice of their publications, added three new numbers to their "Commentaries and Effays." Their 3d number contains "A new Tranf lation of Ifaiah, i. 12. with Notes, fupplementary to thofe of Dr. Louth, Bishop of London, and containing Remarks on fome Parts of his Tranflation and Notes: together with a Criticifm on Gen. iv. 26." The new tranflation of Ifaiah is the production of the fame able pen to which we were indebted for a very rational and excellent criticifm on the 53d chap. of the fame prophet, in a former number. The obfervations on Gen. iv. 26. throw confiderable light on a pasfage which, as it ftands in our prefent tranflation, has afforded much room for the conjectures of different commentators. N° IV. contains "critical notes on many paffages of the Old Testament," which will be found exceedingly ufeful to the biblical fcholar; and "an enquiry into the evidence which points out Chrift to have been only a creature of the human race, invested with extraordinary powers from God; as it arifes from his own declarations, and thofe of his apostles and evangelifts." In the latter tract, the principal arguments in favour of the Socinian hypothefis, are deduced from illuftrations of the different texts relating to the perfon and character of Christ in the gofpel and epiftles. N V. contains obfervations on parts of the viii. xi. and xii. chapters of Daniel;" which will afford defirable aid in clucidating the dark language of the prophetical writings: and, alfo, a gleaning of remarks on Mr. Travis's Attempt to revive the exploded Text of 1 John, chap. v. verfe 7," which, by unquestionable authorities, juftifies the cenfure we formerly paffed on that illiberal and injudicious performance. 66 In the Four Dialogues on the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity, &c. by E. W. Whitaker, Rector of St. P.3 Mildred's |