dence on the received text, as though the authority of its editors * were equal to that of the apostles, and apparently ignorant of all that has been accomplished by the indefatigable industry, and penetrating sagacity of modern critics †, to correct the text and to bring it nearer to the original standard; equally confiding in the authority of the English translation; and annexing without hesitation or enquiry those senses to disputed phrases which have been learned from obsolete articles and creeds, the product of an age just emerging from barbarism, when neither the language nor the doctrines of the scripture were well understood. This, in the estimation of many, is paying due honour to the christian scriptures..

* But the men who in my judgment shew the truest respect to the New Testament, are those who regard the sacred writers as capable and faithful witnesses both of the doctrine which Jesus taught, and of the facts which they relate-who not forward to admit of any deviation from the laws of nature where the necessity is not obvious, allow the inspiration of the writers of the New Testament in no cases where they do not themselves expressly claim it, and who are not sparing of the labour necessary to distinguish even in the canonical books, what is of divine authority, from that which is of human origin-who believe that the evangelical and apostolic writings contain a complete and authentic account of the doctrine and religion of Jesus-who shew their veneration for the scriptures, not by taking every thing upon trust, but by a diligent enquiry into the genuineness of every book, admitting no one into their canon which cannot satisfactorily prove its title to apostolic origin-who do not hastily allow the infallibility of the received text of those books, whose general authority is acknowledged-who think that the editors of the sixteenth century, however honest, diligent and sagacious, were equally liable to misapprehension and prejudice with later publishers of the sacred text, and have no paramount claim to infallibilitywho conceiving that many new sources of information have been opened in the two last centuries, and that much has been done to correct and improve the received text, will admit no passage as genuine which has found its way into the common editions of the scriptures, in opposition to the most approved manuscripts, the most an cient and uncorrupted versions, and the united testimonies of the earliest Christian writers who having thus obtained a text approximating as nearly as possible to original purity, diligently study the true meaning of Oriental imagery, and of Jewish idioms and phrases, — who paying little deference to translations by authority, or to senses arbitrarily annexed to the apostolic language by the prejudiced compilers of catechisms and creeds, follow the great example of Locke in

• * Erasmus, Robert Stephens, and Beza, who published editions of the Greek Testament from manuscripts in their possession, in the 16th century; since which time little alteration has been made in the received text.'

+ Upwards of three hundred manuscripts have been collated since the 16th century, by which the received text might be in many places materially corrected.'

studying studying the scriptures themselves, and in making them their own interpreters; reading them over repeatedly with due attention to discover the meaning of the author, and the scope of his argumentcomparing together similar passages, illustrating the New Testament by the Old, and passages brief, enigmatical, and obscure, by those which are copious, clear, and intelligible; thus extricating the genuine sense, without taking into consideration whether it agrees with this or is repugnant to that hypothesis of vain and ignorant men, who ftrain the apostolic language to the support of their favourite systems. is the way in which rational critics shew their attachment to the Christian scriptures. Whether this judicious homage of men of learning and enquiry, or the blind respect of popular interpreters, be most honourable to that sacred and inestimable volume, and most worthy the imitation of those who aspire to the high distinction of enlightened and consistent Christians, let candour and good sense determine."

This

Mr. Belsham being a strenuous Unitarian, it was impossible that these letters should conclude without notice being taken of Mr. W.'s severe reflection on Unitarianism, " as a sort of half-way house between orthodoxy and infidelity." Such an expression was beneath Mr. W.: but while the present author, at the end of his Review, strongly resented this aspersion, he probably forgot that he subjected himself, at the beginning, to similar reprehension, by describing Mr. W. as 'satisfied himself with being of the number of the elect, as full of joy on account of his personal interest in the promises, and feeling little concern for the non-elect mass of mankind.'

Taken altogether, Mr. Belsham's letters are not only extremely candid, but they evince a critical knowlege of the Scriptures, and a profundity of thought and reflection; and those who have read the "Practical View" ought, in justice to themselves, to peruse this spirited examination of it: which is written without any fear of man's judgment, but, in an entire confidence in the truth of the Christian religion, challenges the fullest inquiry.

ART. IV. The History of America. Book IX. and X. Containing the History of Virginia, to the Year 1688; and the History of New England, to the Year 1652. By William Robertson, D. D. &c. 8vo. pp. 249. 5s. ; in 4to. 7s. 6d. Boards. Cadell jun. and Davies.

THIS posthumous work is edited by the son of the late respectable and celebrated author, and is given as it stood in his father's hand-writing, without addition, alteration, or any correction whatever. During the course of his last tedious illness, Dr. R. at different times destroyed many of his papers: -but, after his death, the continuation of his history of Amerića was found as carefully corrected by him as any part of his manuscripts which the editor had ever seen. He therefore put it into the hands of some of those friends whom his father used to consult on such occasions, and also of some other persons in whose faste and judgment he had the greatest confidence: by all of them, he was encouraged to offer it to the public, as a fragment curious and interesting in itself, and not inferior to any of his father's works.

In attentively perusing the volume, we readily accede to the opinion of those critics whom Mr. R. consulted. Some parts of the author's writings will, on comparison, appear more highly coloured, and others more elaborate, than the performance now before us:--but this fragment exhibits in every page his characteristic excellencies: the same fullness and perspicuity of narrative, the same power of combination, the same solidity of reflection, conveyed in the same graceful flow of animated diction. The present work commences with the history of naval enterprise in England, the spirit of which had been awakened by the example of Columbus; and deduces the causes which tended either to invigorate or to enfeeble those maritime exertions, from which the peculiar glory of this island was to be derived. The first permanent establishments in America were formed in the pacific reign of James I. a prince whose merits pass unnoticed, while his faults are grossly exaggerated. James divided that portion of North America which stretches from the 34th to the 45th degree of latitude into two districts, nearly equal. The settlement of those districts, respectively, he allotted to certain gentlemen residing in London, and others inhabiting Bristol, Plymouth, and other parts in the west of England. Neither the monarch when he issued his charter, nor the feeble companies who received it, had any conception that they were proceeding to lay the foundation of mighty and opulent states. From this period, however, we may trace the history of the states of Virginia and New England, the two original colonies, and also the most important and powerful. From Dr. R.'s narrative, it appears that those states scarcely received, at different times, 30,000 inhabitants from the mother country. The first and successive early emigrants were perpetually harassed, and more than once nearly destroyed, by the suspicion and ferocity of the Indians, The evils of foreign war were often followed and embittered by domestic faction; and when we add to these circumstances, that the colonists settled under great disadvantages in an uncultivated desert, their wonderful aggrandisement in the course of less than two centuries will present a spectacle not less striking than instructive.

REV. OCT. 1798,

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As a short and seasonable specimen of this work, we shall insert the following observations on the last event in the history of Virginia, which threatened to prove fatal to that colony:

• Thus terminated an insurrection, which, in the annals of Virginia, is distinguished by the name of Bacon's rebellion. During seven months this daring leader was master of the colony, while the

✓ royal governor was shut up in a remote and ill-peopled corner of it. What were the real motives that prompted him to take arms, and to what length he intended to carry his plans of reformation, either in commerce or government, it is not easy to discover, in the scanty materials from which we derive our information with respect to this transaction. It is probable, that his conduct, like that of other adventurers in faction, would have been regulated chiefly by events; and accordingly as these proved favourable or adverse, his views and requisitions would have been extended or circumscribed.

Sir William Berkeley, as soon as he was re-instated in his office, called together the representatives of the people, that by their advice and authority public tranquillity and order might be perfectly established. Though this assembly met a few weeks after the death of Bacon, while the memory of reciprocal injuries was still recent, and when the passions excited by such a fierce contest had but little time to subside, its proceedings were conducted with a moderation seldom exercised by the successful party in a civil war. No man suffered capitally; a small number were subjected to fines; others were declared incapable of holding any office of trust; and with those exceptions, the promise of general indemnity was confirmed by law. Soon after, Berkeley was recalled, and Colonel Jefferys was appointed his successor."

In comparing Dr. R.'s work with preceding histories of America, the reader will perceive his superior skill in combining the transactions of the new world with contemporary events in Europe, in shewing the intimate connection beween them; and in pointing out those peculiar circumstances in the establishment of the colonies of Virginia and New England, which gave to them respectively their distinctive characters. The Virginians were the last of the king's subjects who renounced their allegiance, and the first who returned to their duty. The New Englanders exhibited political principles of a directly opposite nature; and in the following quotation, the reader will see among other curious particulars, the origin of the tree of liberty itself; a tree so propitious to America, but the influence of which, from a difference of moral as well as local circumstances, threatens to be pestilential to Europe.

• Relying on the indulgent partiality with which all their proceedings were viewed by men (the popular leaders in parliament) thus closely united with them in sentiments and wishes, the people of New England ventured on a measure, which not only increased their security and power, but may be regarded as a considerable step towards independence. Under the impression or pretext of the danger to which they were exposed from the surrounding tribes of Indians, the four colonies of Massachusets, Plymouth, Connecticut, and Newhaven, entered into a league of perpetual confederacy, offensive and defensive; an idea familiar to several leading men in the colonies, as it was framed in imitation of the famous bond of union among the Dutch provinces, in whose dominions the Brownists had long resided. It was stipulated, that the confederates should henceforth be distinguished by the name of the United Colonies of New England; that each colony shall remain separate and distinct, and have exclusive jurisdiction within its own territory; that in every war offensive or defensive, each of the confederates shall furnish its quota of men, provisions, and money, at a rate to be fixed from time to time, in proportion to the number of people in each settlement; that an assembly composed of two commissioners from each colony shall be held annually, with power to deliberate and decide in all points of common concern to the confederacy; and every determination, in which six of their number concur, shall be binding on the whole *. In this transaction the colonies of New England seem to have considered themselves as independent societies, possessing all the rights of sovereignty, and free from the controul of any superior power. The governing party in England, occupied with affairs of more urgent concern, and no wise disposed to observe the conduct of their brethren in America with any jealous attention, suffered the measure to pass without animadversion.

• Emboldened by this connivance the spirit of independence gathered strength, and soon displayed itself more openly: some persons of note in the colony of Massachusets, averse to the system of ecclesiastical polity established there, and preferring to it the government and discipline of the churches of England or Scotland, having remonstrated to the general court against the injustice of depriving them of their rights as freemen, and of their privileges as Christians, because they could not join as members with any of the congregational churches, petitioned that they might no longer be bound to obey laws to which they had not assented, nor be subject to taxes imposed by an assembly in which they were not represented. Their demands were not only rejected, but they were imprisoned and fined as disturbers of the public peace; and when they appointed some of their number to lay their grievances before parliament, the annual court, in order to prevent this appeal to the supreme power, attempted first to seize their papers, and then to obstruct their embarkation for England. But though neither of these could be accomplished, such was the address and influence of the colonies' agents in England, that no inquiry seems to have been made into this transaction t. This was followed by an indication,

* Neal's History of New England, i. 202, &c. Hutchinson, p. 124. Chalmers' Ann. p. 177.'

'† Neal's Hist. N. Eng. i. 213. Hutchinson's Hist. 145, &c. Collect. 188, &c. Chalm. Ann. 179. Mather, Magnal. B. iii. ch. i. p. 30.'

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