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his writings upon Aratus, often quotes Eudoxus, with great praise for his knowledge in, and great attention to, Astronomy. Vitruvius ascribes to him the invention of drawing a sun-dial upon a plane; from whence it may be inferred, that he was tolerably well acquainted with the doctrine of the sphere, and the method of projecting its circles on a plane; which cannot be done without a considerable knowledge in geometry: and, indeed, there are many who think that the greater part of what now bears the name of Euclid's Elements of Geometry," ought to be attributed to Eudoxus.

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Et

Jacobus Critonius Clunius
Musarum pariter ac Martis
Alumnus, omnibus in studiis,
Ipsis etiam Italis, admirabilis,
Mantuæ a Ducis Mantuani
Filio, ex nocturnis insidiis,

Occisus est, anno Christi 1581.

genus et censum dat Scotia, Gallia pectus, Excolit admirans Italia terra virum: Ambit et esse suum, vellet gens æmula vitam Abstulit sin satis hoc, dicat ut illa suum,

Mantua habet cineres scelus execratanefanduin, At tumuli tanto gaudet honore tamen. [A translation of the above inscription is solicited.]

*Sir James Crichton was, by Charles I. August 20, 1642, created Viscount Frendraught, and the title expired in Lewis, the fifth Viscount, who was attainted in July, 1690, temp. Will. III.

MR. EDITOR,

THOUGH Some allowance must be made for the poetry, yet perhaps the sentiment of the following Epigrams of Mr. Francis Quarles, may amuse some of your readers. ALPHA BETA.

ON A PRINTING-HOUSE. The world's a printing-house: our words, our thoughts, Our deeds, are characters of several sizes: Each soul is a compositor, of whose faults

The Levites are correctors: Heav'n revises: Death is the common press, from whence being driv❜n, We're gather'd sheet by sheet, and bound for heav'n.

ON THE WORLD.

The world's a book, writ by the eternal art Of the great Maker; printed in man's heart: 'Tis falsely printed, though divinely penn'd; Th' errata will appear all at the end.

ON PRAYING TO SAINTS.

"Not pray to Saints!-Is not the warrant ample, If back'd with Scripture, strengthened by example? Did not that swelt'ring Dives make complaint For water? Was not Abraham a Saint? Why should reformed churches, then, forbid it?”— ""Tis true; but where, and what was he that did it!"

Observations on an Article inserted in the Monthly Magazine, for May, 1819, entitled, "Hecate, Luna, Diana, who met in a fork-way." From the German of Wieland.

ALTHOUGH there may be nothing ominous in the characters introduced to our notice in this doubtful dialogue, yet we can scarcely suppose, that the writer had no object in view; even though he has had either the ingenuity or misfortune to express his sentiments in language, that is far from being distinctly intelligible. To a merely superficial reader, nothing is visible but an unmeaning jargon; while to those who reflect on what they peruse, certain prognostics appear of some design which the Author has partially concealed.

The region into which we are introduced, seems to abound with absurdities, which bewilder the understanding; and with forms, that are frightful bear a strange but striking resemand confounding to the senses. These blance to each other; but when we attempt to seize the former, and to ascertain the tangibility of the latter, the phantoms elude our grasp, the fabric dissolves, and we are compelled to infer, from those fleeting images which indistinctly hover round us, that application of the dialogue which the

Author has so cautiously omitted to

express.

It was a favourite maxim with Voltaire, to "Strike, but conceal the hand." With this principle, the writer of this dialogue seems to have been well acquainted. He has adopted its essence, without appealing to the precept. His views are carried beyond the maxims of his preceptor; and, by a peculiar species of wellcontrived accident, he has taught the javelin to fly beyond its mark. The arm, however, by which it has been thrown, has proved too feeble for the undertaking. And although in this attempt, the Author has summoned Diana, Luna, and Hecate, to his aid, instead of deriving any advantage from their presence, they have taught his readers, that, in assailing the Trinity through earthly analogies, even infernal illumination can render him no assistance.

The doctrine of the Trinity is an article of belief among the genuine professors of Christianity. They admit it to be inexplicable in its nature; but, that it involves contradictory ideas, is a position they have yet to learn. With the modes of existence that are possible even to finite intelligences, the powers of man are but imperfectly acquainted. Even among these there may be varieties, which have not yet reached the human intellect and if we may presume, that there is no arrogance so daring, as to assert, "I have reached the summit of all knowledge; and the vast empire of all possibilities lies within the grasp of my comprehension;" there may be, in some distant region, even finite beings, whose manner of existence involves difficulties which we can no more comprehend, than we can those which are connected with the doctrine of the Trinity.

When we raise our thoughts from finite to infinite, the ocean becomes unbounded; and nothing but presumption can direct us to assert, that no mode of existence is possible, but that with which we have been acquainted. Of a Being, in the essence of whose nature actual existence is included, we can form no adequate conception. Admitting such a Being to exist, we are compelled to allow, that his essence must necessarily include every mode of existence that is essential to absolute perfection. We

are also fully assured, that wherever absolute perfection exists, it must be founded in a unity of essence; and, consequently, no modes of existence can be predicated of God, that are inconsistent with this unity of essence; nor can any modes of existence be denied of this great and incomprehensible Being, which are not perceived to be inconsistent with this unity. Here, then, we perceive our limits: God cannot include in his nature any thing that is hostile to the unity of his essence; nor be destitute of any modes of being, which, in accordance with this unity, are essential to absolute perfection. Hence, the former excludes all separation; and the latter includes whatever our abstract idea of distinction, without separation, or an hostility to simple unity, can be presumed to imply. In this unity and distinction, therefore, while we behold all that is possible, we also perceive all that is necessary to the existence of a triad of persons in one common essence; and these are precisely the modes of existence included in the Trinity.

How these distinct subsistences can inhere in one essence, we do not know; but our inability to comprehend the manner, can never be urged as an argument against the fact.

If we

We cannot comprehend the existence of an unoriginated Being; and admitting him to exist, we can no more conceive how he can exist in unity, than how a trinity of persons can exist in a unity of essence. could comprehend the manner in which God exists, reason directs us to reject it, since we are fully assured, that what we can comprehend, cannot be God. Finite can no more comprehend infinite, than a part can contain a whole, of which it is itself a part.

Whatever we allow to be infinite, we must admit to be incomprehensible. It is sufficient on such occasions for us to perceive, that our ideas are not destructive of each other; and beyond this we cannot presume to pass. We therefore resolve the modes of the Divine subsistence into some first principles, which are utterly unknown to us; and, taking Revelation for our guide, listen to the scoffs of Infidelity without any apprehension.

In the Dialogue, on which we presume to animadvert, the Author has resorted to familiar terms, which he has abused

by misapplication, charging the doctrine of the Trinity with asserting, that one is three, and that three are one. This is an absurdity he has imputed to Trinitarians without proof. That one cannot be three, and that three cannot be one, when the terms are identified, is a self-evident proposition; and if the doctrine of the Trinity implied such a contradiction, it must be abandoned without defence. When those who advocate the doctrine of the Trinity, assert, that there are three in one, and that there is one in three, the terms which they use, stand for distinct ideas. The word three, applies to personality; but the word one, is restricted to essence. The three distinct personalities partake of one common essence; while this one common essence beams forth in three distinct personalities. Hence, three distinct persons, subsisting in one simple essence, constitute the Divine nature, and comprehend the Trinity.

As this arrangement of our ideas includes nothing that is visibly contradictory, that man alone has a right to pronounce this mode of existence impossible, who can comprehend all essences, all modes of subsistence, and all the varieties of being, which lie within the empire of reality, and the region of possibility. But since no finite being can ever reach this awful eminence, he knows not but there may be among those possibilities which he cannot grasp, one which includes every property and perfection that is comprehended in the nature of the Trinity. We may even proceed farther, and assert, that what is thus simply possible, may be real; and, consequently, there may now be in actual existence a Being in whose nature all these properties and perfections are so necessarily included, that no other mode of existence can be possible to him. If, therefore, we must grant every thing to be possible that does not involve a contradiction; if the doctrine of the Trinity involves none; and if that which is possible, may be real; it follows, that a triad of persons subsisting in a unity of essence, may now be in a state of actual existence, and if so, this Being must be God.

To select a passage from this Dialogue for animadversion, will be by no means an easy task. The Author has indeed introduced to our notice, three names, which, in the mythology of the

ancients, designated one or three celestial or infernal personages. But it is of little consequence what names or what characters these deities bear. They are subject to human passions, human frailties, and human modes of existence. On these principles, all their conversation is founded; earthly analogies support all their propositions; and nothing more can be derived from the goddesses which appear before us, than the same dialogue, if carried on between William, James, or Peter, with three names, would on all occasions supply.

If those, whom the writer denominates "the mythologists," had founded their doctrine of the Trinity on its resemblance to their own modes of existence, and had attempted to infer a trinity of persons in a unity of essence, from the manner in which three individuals of the human race subsist, the Author of the Dialogue would have taken his stand upon ground that could not have been disputed. In this case, all he has advanced would have been entitled to strict attention; and his observations must either have stood or fallen by their own inherent merit or defect. Assuming as the basis of his singular observations, that the modes of the Divine subsistence are to be estimated on the same principles by which we reason respecting our own, all order is inverted; the distinction between finite and infinite is abolished; and we are led into a region, in which, to use the language of the Author, we “hear a barking, as of a thousand dogs; and a hissing, as of ten thousand snakes. Hence, flashes lighten from the ground; storm-winds howl athwart the wood; and the cracking oak-trees are uptorn by the roots.”

When arrogance presumes to enter the arcana of Deity, and attempts to define his manner of existence by natural rules, it introduces a measure which reason tacitly disowns. Eternity cannot be illustrated by any analogy which time can supply; neither can infinity be comprehended by any figure or dimensions that may be derived from limited existence, or located being. Whatever is infinite, can have no analogy but in infinity; and unoriginated existence can admit of no comparison.

The gods and goddesses of the hea then mythology, may have nam

which derive dignity from their age and office; but while their imaginary natures partake of finite defectibility, we gain nothing by resorting to the pantheon for assistance, but a favourable opportunity of betraying our own weakness. That the Author was either not properly acquainted with the subject on which he presumed to write, or that he has grossly misrepresented what he knew, he has given some indubitable proofs, of which the following is a striking instance. In this Dialogue, Hecate is introduced, as addressing herself to Luna and Diana, in the following language:- "But thou art Hecate, and thou art Hecate, and ye are both Hecate, without my being less Hecate than yourselves." And lest the application of this intended sarcasm should not be distinctly understood, it is added, in the next expression, that "those say it who must know, the mythologists."

Of the Author's intention in these passages, we have but little reason to doubt; but for his success in giving point to the ridicule at which he aimed, he has no right to exact a tribute of approbation. We are not acquainted with any 66 mythologists," as they are denominated, by whom the doctrine of the Trinity is thus stated; or from whose writings this inference can be fairly drawn. A unity of essence, and a distinction in personality, subsisting in the Divine nature, they readily allow: but this doctrine can never justify the indiscriminate application of the terms; nor imply that confusion of ideas, with which the comparison is intended to reproach it. Luna may be Hecate, or both may be Diana, or they may lose or retain their identity, just as this writer may be pleased to assert; but he must examine many pages of the Christian mythologists, before he can find any passage, asserting, that, in the divine persons of the Trinity, whose names would be polluted by the association necessary to mark the incongruity, the first was the second, the second the third, and that both were the first, while the first retained his own essential identity.

of the heathen deities, and the ignorance of his readers, than to the force of his arguments, or the brilliancy of his wit. The tendency of his inclination, and the bent of his disposition, are fully shewn; and in the same proportion as thesc can supply his deficiency of mental energy, his friends may congratulate him on his harmless attempt. To all such as are disposed to assail the Trinity, in language which seems formidable, because nearly destitute of meaning; who are incapable of forming radical discriminations between the most obvious propositions; who are at once incapable of advancing arguments themselves, and of comprehending those which are urged by others, we would strongly recommend the jargon of this Dialogue. The man who shall learn to repeat the whole, may stand as a prodigy of learning among the ignorant and the wicked; and finally imitate Proserpine, when she bade her companions good night, and retired to the mansion of her gloomy husband.

Review.-A brief Account of the Rise and Progress of the Local Preachers, and of Local Preaching, among the Methodists; with their ability for the work, and general usefulness: together with a few Thoughts, addressed to those who are about to engage, or who have lately engaged, in that important work. By William Hatton. Baines, Leeds. pp. 72, 12mo., price 1s. THERE is something in a long titlepage to a little book, which is generally displeasing to a Reviewer; and when, having copied it, he finds no date at the conclusion, he grows angry, and sometimes both the author and the printer are in danger of suffering from his vengeance. It so happens, on the present occasion, that these causes of irritation combine; but as the writer, at the end of his dedication, has inserted "1817," we shall be content to leave the year of its being printed in a state of uncertainty, pleasing ourselves with this assurance, that it was not sent into the

To any thing that looks like pro-world during the last century. found reasoning, there is not a sentence in this Dialogue which can make the least pretension. It is an ineffectual effort to treat the Trinity with contempt: and if the Author has succeeded, he is more indebted to the names

The Local Preachers, of whom Mr. H. takes notice, are divided by him into two classes; namely, those of good, and those of tolerable abilities: but to such as answer any other description, he does not carry his

observations. To these two classes, he | assigns distinct but appropriate characteristics, and argues with much propriety, that, in the order of the divine economy, their talents are adapted to the stations which they respectively fill.

It appears, from some calculations which Mr. H. has made, that the aggregate of places in which the Methodists have preaching on Sundays, amounts to 4200; that the Travelling Preachers are somewhat less than 700; and that, allowing each of them to occupy one chapel and one by-place each Sabbath, there must be left twothirds of the places to be supplied by the Local Preachers.

ed in so many places, and by such men, must and doth spring up, and produce an ample crop unto eternal life,

"The number of persons to whom they preach, is at least a presumptive proof of their usefulness. And only allowing the very low calculation of 50 to every sermon, though in some places from 100 to 1000 may be allowed, they publish the Word of God to not less than 200,000 persons every Lord's Day, in England only." p. 52.

His two concluding chapters contain advice, addressed, first, to those who wish to become Local Preachers; and, secondly, to such as have lately engaged in the work in that capacity. On these points, his remarks perfectly correspond with those already given; and the sober friends of Methodism, we have no doubt, will be glad to find his hints universally adopted.

The

From the labours of these men, Mr. H. proceeds to state their usefulness. This he considers in a two-fold light: first, in relation to pecuniary concerns; and, secondly, in reference to religion. By the few extracts we have taken On the former of these points, after from this pamphlet, and the observahaving calculated that £84,000 annu- tions accompanying them, we have ally is necessary to support the Travel- furnished every reader with an opporling Preachers, he argues as follows: tunity of knowing the Author's design, "From the above statements of the and of forming some judgment of his monies necessary to carry on the work manner in the execution of his work. of Methodism, and the impossibility He seems to be well acquainted with of raising that sum by the regular sub- his subject; and to such as know but scriptions, the usefulness of the Local little of the Methodist Local PreachPreachers again most forcibly appears. ers, he has communicated much inforFor the Travelling Preachers requir- mation; while to those who belong to ing £84,000 annually for their sup- that class of local ministers, he has port, were the Local Preachers to be given some wholesome advice. dormant, (who do two-thirds of the principal merit of this work, consists public work,) 2100 Travelling Preach-in plain calculation, and admonitory ers would be required; of course, caution. £250,000, or three times the above sum, would be necessary. If, therefore, one-third of that sum cannot be raised without the assistance of the Local Preachers, of course two-thirds of the work of Methodism must stand still; and, were there no other cause, two-thirds, or 1400 chapels, would be unoccupied on the Lord's Day, together with 1400 places, not chapels; though it is probable that a reduction in the present number of the Travelling Preachers would be necessary for the want of support; and, of course, a greater number of chapels than the above would be unoccupied." p. 45.

In a religious point of view, Mr. H. reasons in the following manner:

"The numerous places at which they preach every Lord's Day, and which

are already calculated at 3150, hold

Heresy and Orthodoxy.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE IMPERIAL
MAGAZINE.

DEAR SIR,

THE following articles I transcribed
about twenty years ago, from a work
Should
comparatively little known.
you think them suited to the genius of
your publication, they are very much
at your service. It is needless to re-
mark, that they have a direct bearing
against bigotry and superstition; two
monsters, which I should be exceed-
ingly glad to see hunted to death.

I am, respectfully, yours,

ABEDNEGO.

Professor Rochmer's Remarks on

Heresy and Orthodoxy. "The atrociousness of heresy is

forth very flattering prospects of useful-proved by various descriptions of the ness. The seed of eternal life, scatter-crime. By orthodoxy, is to be under

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