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nion to that of Griefbach; his object feems merely to report the decifions of that editor. In controverted paffages, therefore, it will not be fair to confider the Profeffor as confirming that judgment, which he merely reports. The decifion is ftill that of Griefbach, and no more. Thus, on 1 Tim. iii. 16, the note here is,

σε 16. Θεὸς ἐφανερώθη] ὃς ἐφανερώθη-Hæc leftio præferenda videtur; fed funt tamen nonnulla, quæ non fine fpecie aliquâ, ad defendendam vulgarem lectionem afferri queant. “O-ipavsρún Lectio non fpernenda, at receptæ inferior." P. 177.

Thus ftands the queftion, therefore, as Griefbach leftit. Matthæi certainly found Oeos in all the Moscow copies; but thefe are undervalued, as belonging to the Byzantine recenfion. Yet furely their authority is fomething. Again on the much controverted paffage, 1 John v. 7, we read here,

"7, 8. in Tw oupa ad i Ty inclufivè-certiffimè delenda."

P. 200.

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But this we conceive to be the decision of Griefbach, not of Dr. White, who is merely the reporter. We cannot, indeed, perfuade ourselves that the Profeffor would pronounce that alteration to be most certain, which furely can sonly be regarded as rendered highly probable by the prefent fate of the controverfy, and is still liable to objections of much weight and importance.

Such is the nature of this work, of which it feem's fuperfluous to offer any further specimen. It is a work of eminent utility for thofe who, on any account, require to have the first approaches to biblical criticifm facilitated for them. It contains, however, nothing original, except the fingular and very honourable example of a learned veteran, modeftly employing his time and ability to explain the labours of ano>ther, and anxious to render clear, by a new mode of fatement, an honourable teftimony to the purity of the facred text, which was in danger of being loft to the world at large, while it remained inveloped in the myfteries of criticifm, and obfcured by fhort-hand marks.

ART. XIII. Two Volumes of Sermons. By the Rev. Sydney Smith, A. M. late Fellow of New College, Oxford; Rector of Fofton in Yorkshire; Preacher at the Foundling, and at Berkeley,

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Berkeley, and Fitzroy Chapels, 8vo. 436 and 424 pp.. 18s. Cadell and Co. 1809.

WHEN WHEN thefe difcourfes firft appeared they were feverely attacked in an able publication, and, with great force of ridicule, lowered beyond what they feem really to deferve. This, however, was fo far not unfair, that the author is generally believed to have been very active in the ufe of fimilar weapons; and therefore might not unjustly be made to tafte a little of that feverity, which he had administered fo alertly to others. But this was not all, he was accused of lowering the doctrines of Chriftianity, and even of "belonging to the Socinian fchool." This, being a matter of ferious accufation, and grave confequence, was felt by him accordingly; and he took an early opportunity to protest against it, and to declare his firm adherence to the doctrines of the Church. Here, though not fond of controverfy, we thought that juftice required fome interpofition; and we promifed to examine his difcourfes with that particular view, and to make our public declaration of the refult. To this point therefore we fhall chiefly fpeak; leaving other matters which refpect only tafte and criticifm to be fettled, as they may, between the author's friends and enemies. He has talents enough, undoubtedly, to obtain the one, and has ufed them indifcreetly enough to be fure of having the other.

In this particular then we cannot hesitate to say that he was unfairly treated. He writes apparently with rapidity, and therefore may not always fufficiently guard his expreffions from mifinterpretation, but his affertions of our Saviour's divinity, and of other great doctrines of Chrif tianity, are, when his fubject leads to them, perfectly expli

Thus, in his Sermon on Good Friday, vol. i. he fays, that the last scenes of our Saviour's life, "fanction our belief in the Divinity of Chrift." The fame fermon thus" concludes.

"So lived Jefus, the Son of God, and how he was loved, and honoured in his death, we all know every paffer-by fmote his. breaft; the daughters of Jerufalem followed him weeping; Judas flung down the 30 pieces of filver; Pilate faid, I am guiltless of his blood; the thief farw he was a God; the centurion believed and trembled; the veil of the temple was rent; darkness was over the earth; the graves were open; and many fleeping bodies

* Vol. xxxv. p. 419.
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of the Saints came up to the world;-thefe are the miracles which carried conviction to the hearts of his perfecutors and murderers. If we can ftudy in vain the morals of his life, we muff yield at least to the miracles of his death, and exclaim, with the trembling centurion, of a truth this was the Son of God. Vol. i. P. 186.

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If any doubt could be thrown upon thefe words, the fhort fentence quoted before muft fufficiently remove it. In his fermons on temptation he afferts other Chriftian doc trines, which he was accused of denying or with-holding. "If God fave me not, I am loft, for of myself I can do nothing," vol. ii. p. 6. We refume the fame confidence in Chrift; we put up the fame prayer; we receive for our aid the fame emanations of the Divine Grace," p. 7. After defining Faith, as not merely a notion or opinion fituated finally in the understanding, and defcribing it as a my ftery, he adds, this Faith it is which will make heaven the end of our defires, God the object of our worship, the Scrip-. tures the rule of our actions, and the Holy Spirit our mighty counfellor and affiftant," p. 13. Again, towards the end, we have the Grace of God, and his protecting Spirit, to fanctify all the good that we intend," p. 16. It cannot be true therefore that when he explained "the fruits of the Spirit" in a different way he meant to deny the operation of the Holy Spirit of God.

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Thus much we have thought due to juftice. It is a serious thing for a beneficed clergyman to be accused of departing. from the doctrines of the Church to which he belongs; and to be put upon the footing with those bafe betrayers of the Church who, having fworn to defend her faith, dare publickly to attack it, and yet wifh to retain her emoluments. This loweft degradation of infincerity, we rejoice to fay, does not belong to him; and though a great part of his fermons are upon fubjects which do not demand the direct affertions of the doctrines of atonement, &c. we fee no reason to doubt that he holds them. On fome other points, we are ready to allow that he was juftly attacked. But neither do we fee any advantage to be derived from depreciating his Sermons too far. They are written in a lively and popular style, whether always in the beft tafte, we will not contend; but many things are faid in them with force, and in a way which may make more impreffion than more cautious writing.The following paffage, for inftance, is one which, on a very different account, we fhould have been glad to quote at

an early period of our labours. It is not only true but ftriking.

"There lies, at the bottom of all vaft communities, a numerous fet of men, of open or disguised poverty, who have loft fortune, and fame in the fink of pleafure, and quenched every particle of God in voluptuous enormities and crimes; base, bad men, who prey upon industry, and hate virtue; who would tear down the decencies, and pollute the innocence of life, that they might make mankind as wretched as themselves, and spread the horror of ungoverned paffions and unqualified indulgence. Here is the first nucleus of all revolutions, it matters not whether the object be to enslave the people or to free them; to give them up to another's tyranny, or the more cruel, dominion of their own folly; to eftablifh a defpotifm or a democracy. In all revolu tions there is plunder and change; and here are the hordes of affaffins and robbers, the tools of political violence, tutored by their ancient pleasures and their prefent diftrefs to callous inhu manity, and boundlefs rapine. This fource of danger to our country needs but very little comment; the cure of fuch an evil falls under that general law of felf-defence, by which we crufh a venomous reptile, er flanghter a beat of prey." P. 215.

We conclude then, by a qualified recommendation of thefe Sermons. They certainly are not models of a theological ftyle; they may be accufed, and have indeed been convicted, of inconfiflencies. But they are the work of a writer who, with perhaps too much ambition to fay ftriking things, is not without the ability to do it; and who, if he fhall in retirement employ his time in meditation and tudy may be capable of much better exertions.

Some of thefe difcourfes, as for inftance five in the second volume, and fome in the firil, are reprinted from those which were published before in two volumes 12mo. Why this was done, unless the author wilhes the other parts of thofe volumes to be fuperfeded and forgotten, it is not eafy to guefs. Some time hence, perhaps, he may be defirous in a fimilar manner to extinguilh parts of thefe. But this is furely to publish with more hafle than prudence, which in the former inftance was certainly done.

ART. XIV. Obfervations on the Tin Trade of the Antients in Cornwall, and on the Ictis of Diodorus Siculus. By Sir Chriftopher Hawkins, Baronet, F. A. S. With a View of the Mount. Crown 8vo. pp. 80. Stockdale. 1811. IN thefe Obfervations are difplayed much tafle and ingenuity. The author does not attempt the inveftigation Dd 4

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of the antiquary: but he gives us with elegant conciseness, what others have told us, coarfely or diffufely.

Adverting to the trade of the Phenicians, Sir Chriftopher obferves:

"Mel, or Melec-carthus the Phenician Hercules, is faid to have been their greateft navigator, and the firft who brought in from the Caffiterides or British ifles.

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According to others, he invented the fhell-purple, by accidentally remarking that a dog's mouth was stained therewith, and as both thefe difcoveries are attributed to the fame perfon, we may thence infer, that the tin of Britain was an effential ingre dient in fixing the fine purple dyes of the antients; or, as Mr. Polwhele elegantly expreffes it, "very poffibly the purple dye of the Tyrians gained its high reputation among the ancients, from the ule of our tin in the compofition of the dye-ftuff, as the tin trade was, folely, in their own management.

"That its ufe," continues Mr. Polwhele" as one of the noncolouring retentive ingredients, was known to the Phenicians, will appear probable, when we confider the unfadingness of their purple, which was a leading character in that celebrated colour, produced by the fhell-fifh, Purpura. It is not likely that the fimple blood of a fhell-fffh, however beautiful at firft, could have proved a lasting dye; the addition of fome retentive ingredient muft have been neceffary to fecure its brightnefs and preferve its beauty. Tin diffolved in aquafortis is, at prefent, a neceffary article in the new fcarlet dye; and our fine cloths owe the permanence of their delicate colours to the retentiveness given by the finest grain tin; fo that the English fuperfine broad cloths, dyed in grain, by the help of this ingredient, are become famous in all the markets of the known world." P. 23.

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As we before intimated, our author in general aims at nothing more, than to exprefs well, what others have already and perhaps often faid. That the Ictis of Diodorus, however, is the prefent St. Michael's Mount, is with him an original conjecture. Camden had maintained that the Ille of Wight, Borlafe, that one of the Scilly ifles, Pryce, that the Black-rock, and Polwhele, that the ifland of St. Nicholas, was the I&tis of the old hiftorian. Amidft fo many conjectures, the field was open to Sir Chriftopher, who has ftated his hypothefis, with a becoming deference to the opinions of his predeceffors.

"Wict or Wight, (fays he) is the name of an island, adjacent to one part of Britain; and although Saint Michael's Mount be nearer to the mining diftrict of the Land's End, which fince the introduction of Chriftianity, has been named Saint Michael, yet it ftill forms a part of the Weftern divifion of Cornwall, called

Penwict,

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