in his mediatorial work, 1 Cor. ii. 9, 10, 12; 2 Cor. iii. 17, 18; iv. 6.

"So, then, this manifestation of Christ to the soul, is not by the discovery of new truths concerning him, not before contained in his word, but by impressing the heart with a lively sense of the excellence of discoveries already made in the Sacred Scriptures, the foundation for which was laid by regenerating grace; and which inward sense of the Saviour's

excellence and glory is revived and in creased from time to time by the influence of the Holy Spirit on the soul." pp. 334, 335.

"The nature of vital faith is somewhat more than a bare assent to the truth of speculative notions; somewhat better than a bare assurance of interest in God's love, or that Christ died for me. And the essence of faith, and especially the first act of faith, does not consist in believing that Christ is mine, or that he died for me in particular. For (1.) There is no such proposition in Scripture, as that Christ died for any one in particular, except such as answer to gospel descriptions; or, otherwise, for the elect, who cannot be known till they are made to answer these descriptions. (2.) Nor could this be true faith, upon the plan of general redemption; for then every one who admitted that sentiment would be saved, which no sober Arminian would assert. (3.) If there were such a proposition in Scripture, it would require no change of nature to believe it; nor would there be any thing gracious in the belief of it. Suppose God should tell an unconverted man that Christ died for him, that his sins were forgiven him, or that he was elected without a spiritual manifestation, he would only be the same or worse than ever."-pp. 336,

337.

TRANSLATION OF A CURIOUS PORTUGUESE MEMORIAL.

(To the Editors.)

GENTLEMEN-As every thing connected with the political and moral history of Portugal is interesting to the public at the present moment, permit me to request that you will insert in your pages the inclosed copy of a curious document, which records opinions so essentially protestant as to inspire the hope, that should the budding

independence of that country be effectually sheltered from the ultra-montane storm which threathold the shooting forth of those ens to destroy it, we may also beprinciples again which ever best flourish in the congenial soil of political freedom.

The title of the little tract is "A Translation of a curious Me

morial presented April 25, 1768, by the Portuguese nation to the Royal Board of Censure (Censura), appointed by his most faithful Majesty, to examine and revise all Books, and to permit the printing, publishing, reading, and selling them in the Kingdom of Portugal and its Dominions."

I regret that I cannot give your readers any information respecting "the Royal Board of Censure," nor can I verify the translation. The tract, which contains 12 pages, 12mo. was printed at Devizes by T. Burrough, 1769, the year after the memorial itself was presented in Lisbon; it has no advertisement, or any explanatory note; in fact the inclosed is a literal transcript of it. I think it should be preserved, and as you have recently given your readers the valuable tract upon the Roman Catholic Mission in China, I trust you will occasionally devote a few pages to such documents which will increase the value of your already valuable magazine.

B. "GENTLEMEN, -The tribunal of the inquisition has hitherto blindly followed all the maxims of the Court of Rome, without examining how pernicious many of them were to the King's Authority, the public and private good, and to the divine illumination of the consciences

of all who profess the same religion; and this proceeding, although erroneous, was, by the inquisitors, — in through ignorance, others through flattery, but in most, through fear and danger, which every person is in, the instant they disoblige, in the minutest thing,

the ministers of that tribunal-esteemed right and just. However, it is well known, by all learned, judicious, virtuous, and impartial men, that in this es

teemed, just, and right proceeding, are found great injustice and absurd errors; evils which are attributed much more to the ancient statutes of that court, than to the ignorance or malice of the inqui sitors, blameable only for blindly following those statutes, preferring the written obedience and execution of them, to the utility, the instruction, and the doctrine necessary to be practised.

"Infinite thanks to Almighty God, to our august and faithful sovereign, and to his Excellency Count d'Oeyras, his prime minister, for the resolution taken and put in practice, of recommending the revise of all books which ought to be published in Portugal, to a new and supreme office, consisting of wise, honest, and humane men, to whom we may make our petitions, and represent our grievances, and without dread of being ill deceived, and much less to be reproved by ministers, who not being subject to, nor prepossessed by the ancient and erroneous statutes of the inquisition, are ordained by God and our sovereign, to reform with care, diligence, and Christian severity, all books which regard our present and future happiness.

"The Holy Scripture is the compendium and deposite of the law of God. God himself expressly commands, all the inspired prophets declare, Jesus Christ orders, and his holy Apostles and Evangelists teach, that all men should read, examine, and contemplate these sacred writings; the popes, the holy fathers, the most learned and the most pious doctors in the primitive ages of Christianity, observed religiously this binding precept; and without ever thinking to prohibit the reading the Old and New Testament, all faithful Christians, of both sexes, had the consolation and satisfaction to read the word of God, to study his life, and execute his will, because they understood and knew what it was. Unhappily a time succeeded, when the exemplary lives of the bishops of Rome were so depravedly perverted, that, desirous of being themselves worshipped as Gods, they lived and acted as if there was no true and only God. The great patrimonial estates which the kings of France conferred on the bishops, and the titles which their pride arrogated to themselves; the pretensions which they formed, and which were founded on their sole ambition and arrogance, and practised during the imbecility, the weakness, and superstition of many princes, who were inveigled to consent

to such abuses, incroachments, and errors, by the wicked counsels of Jesuits, who governed their consciences: all these changed into wickedness, the sanctity of those bishops; for in the Holy Scriptures, not one single word authorises their great disorders and scandalous proceedings; but on the contrary, the innovations and the alterations which they sacrilegiously introduced and established in the doctrine and dogmas of the Christian religion, are diametrically opposite to the word of God. To conceal from pious and good Christians, the iniquity of their enormous and detestable attempts, the popes were obliged to hinder and prohibit them the holy Bible in the vulgar tongue. This cruel and criminal prohibition had very little success; and we may add, was despised by all the Christian nations and sects, where the power of the inquisition was not established. The French, Germans, English, and Dutch, Roman Catholics, or Protestants, enjoyed many editions of the Holy Scriptures, translated into the respective languages, and none of them were in the least culpable, nor any formal proceeding used against them, for reading and meditating on the word of God.

"Notwithstanding the odious circumspection of the tribunal of the inquisition, venal slaves and blind followers to the decrees of the Court of Rome, the Bible is translated into Italian and Spanish; and thanks to the piety and learning of John Ferreyra de Almedia, our worthy compatriot, and to the missioners of the king of Denmark in India, the Bible is there translated, although badly printed, in the Portuguese language: however, either from the distance, or the fear of the inquisition, it's certain we are deprived of this work, owing principally to the study and pains of the said father Ferreyra, priest of the order of St. Peter, who, instead of being venerated and rewarded for so holy and so useful an undertaking, is not known in Portugal, but for the unjust and ridiculous treatment which he suffered in the inquisition of Goa, for the proofs he had given of his zeal to Christianity.

"All the ancient ordinances of this kingdom, all new laws, all decrees, councils, proclamations, &c. which emanate from the throne, and by which our sovereign intimates his orders, and makes known to us his will; all these are wrote, printed, and published, in our mother tongue; to act contrary, would be the greatest

scenes to arise, and events to occur, which would illustrate the nature of evangelical virtue, and exemplify the spirit of true religion. We might expect the prominent characters to be the excellent of the earth, and the principal facts to be the exertions of benevolence in propagating Divine truth, and in promoting human happiness. At the apostolic æra, and in the inspired writings, these expectations are realized in their full extent; but they gradually fail in succeeding times, and are lamentably disappointed as we descend into the dark ages. During a long period the real Christian church scarcely existed; and the nominal church was divided into parties, and agitated by disputes. Those disputes often related to subjects trifling and absurd; and those parties contended with each other from perverseness, and persecuted each other with rancour and cruelty. We search for real Christians, and apostolic teachers, but we find the people sunk in superstition, and the clergy governed by a spirit of avarice and ambition. The tenth century conducts us down to the ultimate point of Christian depression," and presents to our view a dreadful vacuum of all true piety, and an awful scene of darkness, disorder, and depravity. "The history of the Roman pontiffs that lived in that century is a history of so many monsters, and not of men, and exhibits a horrible series of the most flagitious, tremendous, and complicated crimes, as all writers, even those of the Romish communion, unanimously confess. The clergy, both in the eastern and western provinces, were, for the most part, composed of a most worthless set of men, shamefully illiterate and stupid, ignorant more especially in religious matters, equally enslaved to sensuality and superstition, and capable of the

66

Such

most abominable deeds."* were the impudence of the priests, and the credulity of the people, that the former could hardly invent any thing too absurd for the latter to believe. It is truly painful and disgusting to see men corrupt in opinion, and profligate in practice, who should shine as lights in the world; ignorant when favoured with better opportunities than others of acquiring knowledge; and wicked under the strongest obligations to duty. There was indeed "a indeed "a remnant according to the election of grace" in the worst of times, but those inestimable characters, when they can be discovered at all, appear like twinkling stars in a dark hemisphere.

The feelings of a pious mind do not suffer so much in reading the work of Joseph Milner, as in other ecclesiastical histories, because the author has exonerated himself from the necessity of entering into many odious details, of delineating many detestable characters, and of relating many infamous transactions, by writing his book on a peculiar plan, in conformity to which he passes by, without notice, all secular concerns, all heresies and corruptions, all the intrigues, machinations, and contentions of ambitious priests; and confines his attention to the cause of real religion. In his researches into the affairs of the true church, and in his efforts to compose a spiritual history of genuine Christians, he is never content with dubious or borrowed information, but always traces that information to its source. He says, "how delusive, and yet how common a thing is it, to form our idea of characters from the report of others, rather than from our own knowledge and careful investigation. To the best of my ability I have formed my judgment on original evidences, and

* Mosheim, Vol. ii. p. 399, 400. + De Henry, Vol. iii. p. 257.

not on the opinions and reasonings of any modern whatever. Laborious task! compared with the ease of copying other historians: invidious also, because it often obliges one to oppose modern representations. But it is the task of a real historian."-(Vol. ii. p. 430. 446.) This task he has performed most assiduously. With patient attention, and persevering diligence, he has consulted and compared the original authors, and has communicated the result of his inquiries with fidelity and accuracy. His reflections on the several subjects which pass under his review, prove that he was in the habit of thinking for himself, and they often display much wisdom, as well as strength and independence of mind. This originality of thinking, and independence of mind, have led him to correct many common errors, and current misrepresentations, and to vindicate many excellent men from the flippant and malignant censures of infidel writers. His sketches of character, his narratives of events, and his opinions upon them, are entitled to all the deference which learning, industry, and integrity can deserve. But sometimes his historical materials are defective; and this deficiency has induced him to load his work with heavy quotations from old theological treatises, and has reduced him to the necessity of writing the biography of individuals, rather than a general history of the church.

The learning, integrity, and diligence of the late Joseph Milner, however conspicuous and unquestionable, do not constitute his highest praise. His grand excellencies are fervent piety, sound judgment, and decided attachment to the Gospel. That blessed system enlightened his understanding, animated the best feelings of his heart, and directed the whole course of his studies. In his estimation its value was such as to

give importance to every thing connected with it; and he every where represents it as worth all the exertions which holy zeal could ever make, and all the sacrifices and sufferings which human fortitude could ever endure. To exhibit the nature of real Christianity historically, is the plan of his work, and in the execution of the plan, he makes history subservient to instruction, and takes every opportunity to show the connexion between principle and practice, between the doctrines of grace and the fruits of righteousness. Vital religion is his great object of inquiry, and his great delight is to display its influence in producing exemplary virtues, and in forming such characters as approve themselves to the closest scrutiny, bear the hardest test of adversity, and shine most brightly in the furnace of persecution. His narrative teaches us the infinite obligations we are under, and the debt of gratitude we owe, to those illustrious men who resisted the corruptions of former times; who devoted themselves to the service of God, and the promotion of his cause in the world; and who bequeathed to us, as an inestimable legacy, those privileges which they purchased at the price of their blood.

From his own declarations we might suppose that Mr. Milner claimed for himself the merit of impartiality, and expected that his labours would be acceptable to evangelical dissenters as well as to good churchmen. In the first page of his Introduction, after shortly describing the character of real Christians, he says, "It is the history of these men which I propose to write. It is of no consequence with respect to my plan, nor of much importance, I believe, in its own nature, to what EXTERNAL church they belonged. I intend not to enter with any nicety into an account of their rites and