fuch expreffion could poffibly come from the pen of our evangelift no fuch idea could enter the head of a primitive pro-. feffor of the Gofpel.-The Arabic translator has employed both readings, which proves, that the original was already corrupted in his time, and, by the by, that he made his tranflation from the Greek; a pofition, which has been difputed. He has - the church of the Lord God. But the Syriac, that most ancient and, indeed, inestimable version, which would be ill exchanged for all the MSS. of the Greek Teftament in the univerfe, molt explicitly renders-the congregation, or church of the Meffiah, or of Chrift. And fo the Coptic, a moft accurate and valuable tranflation: the church of the Lord.

Let the orthodox fon of the church infult us no more with this blafphemous phrafe of the blood of God, to the fcandal of christianity and of common-fenfe, and in direct contradiction to the affertions of his mother, in the firft article of her summary of faith and practice.'

"Crudelis mater magis, an puer improbus ille?

Improbus ille puer, crudelis tu quoque mater."

Having furveyed the writings of the New Testament, the author proceeds to confider the opinion of Barnabas, Hormas, Clement, Ignatius, and Polycarp. After which he concludes with the following general reflections,

The first part of my propofed enquiry is now brought to a conclufion. In the conduct of it, I can fincerely affirm, that I have employed no glofs of mifreprefentation, no art of fophiftry, with a defign to impofe upon the reader or myself, The Scriptures have been impartially reviewed, and no objections palliated, no difficulties wilfully overlooked. I have endeavoured to establish my interpretations upon the only durable and proper bafis-the phrafeology of eaftern compofition, and the fuffrage of parallel paffages in the facred volume. To the labours of preceding critics I owe but little; not from a fastidious contempt of the ingenuous and learned writers, who have exerted their abilities in the fame caufe; but from a respect for the community :-and that little has been faithfully acknow leged,

To fay, that I executed this volume without any retrospect, without any attachment, to a favourite opinion, would be an affertion equally unneceffary and infincere. A firm perfuafion of the abfolute unity of the true God, unfophifticated by fcho laftic theories a decifive conviction of the actual humanity of Jefus Chrift, in oppofition to an inconceivable, impoffible union with the godhead on one hand; and to the fantalic fpeculation of a pre-existence before his manifeftation to mankind, on the other-thefe are the capital doctrines, these are the darling propofitions of my creed. In thefe opinions I have been gradually confirmed by a feries of intenfe meditation, and unremitted study of the Scriptures. Thefe I have embraced

Bb 3

against

against the folicitations of worldly intereft and the early prejadices of education. And, what may confer fome little authority upon my conclufions, I began my enquiries at a period, when felfith confiderations feldom operate; and before any eligible apointment, or any lucrative expectations, had made it expedient for me to acquiefce. I am grateful to the Supreme Being for enabling me to escape thofe temptations, by which fo many, alas! are daily overcome. We are all confcious of this melancholy truth; but fhould learn to reflect without indignation, yea with compaffionate fympathy, upon the embarraffed fituations of many bright ornaments of religion, humanity, and learning, who are unable to extricate themfelves from their antichriftian bondage into the glorious liberty of the fons of God. We take not upon ourselves to judge the fervants of another: to their own mafter they ftand or fall; and to his mercy we confign them, after difcharging our duty, by preffing on their attention that warning voice of the Chriftian prophet:

Come out of her, my people, that ye partake not in her fins, and that ye receive not of her ftripes."

The remainder of this work, which will probably extend to two volumes more, is intended to exhibit the opinions of the Chriftian writers of the fecond and third centuries, upon the fubject of our Lord's perfonal character; accompanied by an account of the herefies in the church, to the end of that period.

Bibliotheca Topographica Britannica. No. XVI. 4to. 55.

Nichols.

Bibliotheca Topographica Britannica. No. XVII. 4to. 15. 6d. Nichols.

Erkhire, fays bishop Nicolfon, has not hitherto had its antiquities, or its natural history, collected by any writer. The general topographies of this county, which have occafionally appeared, are little more than tranfcripts from Camden's Britannia. Mr. Afhmole, in his Inftitution, Laws, and Ceremonies, of the Order of the Garter, has given us a brief account of the caftle, chapel, and college of Windfor; and collected materials for a history of the county.

Mr. Hearne wrote an account of fome antiquities between Windfor and Oxford. These remarks however extend no farther, in Berkshire, than to the villages of Shottesbrooke, Laurence-Waltham, and White-Waltham. They are to be feen in the Monthly Mifcellany for Nov. 1708, and in the eighth volume of Leland's Itinerary.

In 1749, an account of the caftle, town, and corporation of Windfor, was published by Mr. Pote. But all these performances

7

formances fall infinitely fhort of the civil, ecclefiaftical, and natural history of the county in general, which came not within the compass of their defign.

In the year 1759, the late Mr. Mores fent circular letters and queries to the clergy and other gentlemen, refiding in Berkshire. The fixteenth number of this publication contains the answers which were returned from the parishes of Bisham, Chadlefworth, Coleshill, Cumner, Eaft-Garfton, Shaw, Shifford, Sparfholt, Speen, Stanford, Suthamftede, and Yatten

don.

To these communications are added a few particulars, collected by the editor, relative to the parishes of Aldworth, Shottefbrooke, and White-Waltham. The information, contained in these anfwers, is in general fuperficial; yet fuch as will undoubtedly be of ufe in the compilation of a more accurate and extenfive hiftory of the county.

Not many eminent men are mentioned in this number. In the answer from Yattendon, we find a fmall anecdote or two of the Rev. Mr. Th. Carte, the hiftorian, who was buried in the church belonging to that parish, April 11, 1754.

In the hiftory of Shottefbrooke, we have a long account of the celebrated Mr. Henry Dodwell, who died June 7, 1711, aged 70; and was buried in the chancel of that church, where a monument was erected to his memory, with a Latin infcription.

The famous antiquary, Thomas Hearne, we are here told, was born in a cottage at Little Field Green, in the parish of White-Waltham; but no other memorable circumftances are mentioned of him in this number.

Number XVII. confifts of Extracts from the Black Book of Warwick; a Memoir relative to the Story of Guy Earl of Warwick, by Mr. Pegge; and Sir Thomas More's Narrative of a religious Frenzy at Coventry.

The Black Book is a book in the poffeffion of the corporation of Warwick, containing an Account of the Celebration of the Order of St. Michael, by [Robert Dudley] Earl of Leicefter, at St. Mary's Church in Warwick, anno 1571; the Death and Burial of the Marquis of Northampton at Warwick, 1571; Queen Elizabeth's coming to Warwick in 1572; an Order of Council for affifting John Speed in completing his Maps of Great Britain, June 17, 1607; and fome Corporation Accounts.

Some authors of great note having efpoufed the story of Guy earl of Warwick, and his fingle combat with the giant Colbrand, as John Leland, Mr. Camden, Dr. Heylin, Sir William Dugdale, and others, conceiving it to be a genuine

B b 4

and

and real matter of fact, Mr. Pegge examines the truth of this fingular history, and afligns feveral reafons for his diffent from these authors. That there might be fuch a perfon as Guy in the Saxon times, and a foldier of eminence, he does not deny; but that he was earl of Warwick, and fingly fought with Colbrand for the crown of England, he thinks extremely improbable. He obferves, that the combat was fought, A. D. 926, and we have no account of it till almoft 200 years after ; that Guy was not earl of Warwick at this time; that Colbrand is evidently a Danish, and not a Moorish name, notwithstanding it is afferted, that Colbrand was an African giant; that Guy was not less than 67 at the time of the combat (68 according to Mr. Hearne) rather too old to be engaged in fuch a perilous affair, wherein fo much was at ftake as a right to the crown of England; that this combat is reported to have been at Winchefter, though it does not appear, that the Danes ever befieged that city; that king Athelstan was in no fuch fituation, as the ftory fuppofes, in 926; that what Knighton fays, of earl Guy's going upon a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, is very improbable, fuch voyages not coming in vogue till about the Norman conqueft; and lastly, that Roffus Warwicenfis, or John Rous*, who relates the story, and who was a limner and a herald, as well as an ecclefiaftic and hiftorian, has given us the figure of Guy in complete armour, with his hield and coat of arms; whereas we had no fuch things as coats of armour in Athelstan's reign. Mr. Pegge adds:

There might be a great warrior of the name of Guy; and Colman, or fome other genius, to ingratiate themselves with the powerful earls of Warwick, were pleased to give him that title, and to embellish his ftory with this combat, after the model of that of David and Goliah; and as the story was invented after the Norman conqueft, it is from thence that we hear of Jerufalem and the Saracen's, the introduction of both which cannot eafily be accounted for upon any other fuppofition. The inventor, whoever he was, effectually gained his ends; for it appears from this fhort account, that Guy afterwards became a Chriftian name of the Beauchamps earls of Warwick, in honour of the champion, and that his story was pourtrayed in the old hangings at Warwick caftle. Richard Nevil, earl of Warwick, was alfo induced to believe the same, as likewife were the town's people of Warwick, for they had his ftatue in ftone, as the citizens of Winchefter preserved Colebrand's axe; to which I may add, that the tablet, formerly hanging at the high altar at Winchester, transcribed

John Rofs or Roufe, p. 1491, Pits. p. 683.

from

from Girardus Cornubienfis, fhews how generally the legend of Guy and Colebrand was received in England; but, as rightly is obferved by Dr. Percy, many of our ancient hif torians have recorded the fictions of romance."

The editor has adorned this number with a print, reprefenting the neglected remains of the ftatue of Guy earl of Warwick, in the chapel of Guy's-clift, now a carpenter's hop near Warwick. Sic tranfit gloria mundi!

Obfervations on the Commerce of the American States. By John Lord Sheffield. With an Appendix, The Sixth Edition, enlarged. With a complete Index to the whole. 8vo. 65.

Debrett.

THE queftion which gave rife to the war between Great Britain and America, was not difputed by the oppofite parties with greater zeal than has fince been manifested by thofe who have employed themselves in devifing regulations for the reciprocal commerce of the two countries. Nothing can be more certain than the principle at first laid down by lord Sheffield, that America ought henceforth to be viewed by Britain in the light of a foreign country; for, by afferting their independence, the Americans have at once renounced the privileges, as well as the duties, of British fubjects. It is therefore a weak and infidious argument used by the advo cates for America, when they affirm it to be for the intereft of Great Britain, that fhe fhould extend to her emancipated colonies the fame indulgence, which was granted them during the ftate of their subjection. Yet upon this fallacious principle refts chiefly the whole fuperftructure of commercial regulations, propofed by the political writers on the fide of America.

Lord Sheffield's Obfervations on this fubject are now fo much increased, that from feventy they have fwelled to the amount of four hundred pages. They have accumulated, through every fucceffive edition, not only in quantity, but in the weight of evidence, and in the force of the conclufions which the author has thereby established. The following extract from the Introduction contains, in our opinion, a faithful reprefentation of what is evinced in the work.

It will be fufficient fatisfaction to me, if I have in any degree fhewn that a treaty with the American States, as one nation, is unneceffary and impolitic; that it will only tend to unite them, and against our intereft; that a treaty offenfive and defenfive may lead to a quarrel with Spain and other nations,

but