ask, if the inability and utter depravity of human nature be a matter of supposition and not of fact; how came the Anti-jacobin Reviewers to assert, that man, after the fall, was all CORRUPTION; and that, by the fall, his nature was totally degraded? The Anti-jacobin Reviewers have made very loud professions of zeal for the character of the clergy of the established Church, and have been apt to manifest an extraordinary degree of emotion at the most distant insinuation to their prejudice. When Dr. Gleig, however, becomes the accuser, the Anti-jacobin Reviewers will not only suffer an impeachment of the clerical character to escape without rebuke or confutation, but even help to propagate it, and stamp it with their sanction. Dr. Gleig asserts, that "the more intelligent teachers of religion, in both parts of the united kingdom, supinely suffer things to take their course without exerting one effort to stem the torrent of infidelity which threatens to overwhelm us." (p. 23.) However the Anti-jacobin Reviewers may rank this accusation among the "evangelical sentiments, which they are proud suo, quantulumcumque sit, comprobare suffragio:" for they quote the passage which contains it with unqualified approbation, we hesitate not to pronounce it to be at least as unfounded, unjust, and indiscriminate a charge as has ever awakened the indignation of these gentlemen. CVII. Rural Philosophy; or, Reflections on Knowledge, Virtue, and Happiness, chiefly in reference to a Life of Retirement in the Country. By ELY BATES, Esq. Longman and Rees. pp. xxxii and 355. 1803. WE entirely agree with the author of this excellent work, that there exists at present amongst us a lamentable want of rural philosophy, or of that wisdom which teaches a man at once to enjoy and to improve a life of retirement. Whence is it else that the country is almost deserted; that the ancient mansions of our nobility and gentry, notwithstanding all the attractions of rural beauty and every elegance of accommodation, can no longer retain their owners, who, at the approach of winter, pour into the metropolis, and even in the summer months wander to the sea coast, or to some other place of fashionable resort? This unsettled humour in the midst of such advantages plainly argues much inward disorder, and points out the need, as well as the excellency, of that discipline which can inspire a pure taste of nature, and open the sources of moral and intellectual enjoyment. To correct this inward disorder is the professed object of the author before us, an object certainly of the most important kind, and extending in its use far beyond the particular case of those who are living in rural retirement; since, in every situation, it is the state of mind, principally, which renders that situation a scene of enjoyment or a source of misery. True knowledge is the basis of virtue, and from virtue is derived solid happiness. This system of sound philosophy, our author lays down as the basis of his reflections, explaining from the principles of reason and revelation the nature of true knowledge as it relates to God, to ourselves, and to the world; unfolding the means of promoting virtue; and shewing how far retirement may be considered as favourable to virtue and to the enjoyment of happiness. The remarks upon the knowledge of God are extremely just. It is an error too prevalent in the present day, and against which we esteem it our duty to warn our readers in the strongest terms, to conceive of God as a being altogether merciful without justice, and to explain the constitution of the world as indicating nothing but benevolence; the natural evils found in it being either such in appearance only, or being necessary for the purpose of producing some greater good or removing some other unavoidable evil, as earthquakes and hurricanes are fancied to be necessary for the purpose of clearing the air from noxious vapours. Thus Mr. Jerningham represents the deity only as a benign Creator. So St. Pierre, in his studies of nature, (a work which a Christian divine ought not to have translated without much stronger reprobation of its principles than he has given,) assures us that what we consider as natural evils, are only inflicted by nature on man when he deviates from her laws. " If storms," he says, "sometimes ravage his orchards and his corn fields, it is because he fre quently places them where nature never intended they should grow. Storms scarcely ever injure any culture except the injudicious cultivation of man. Forests and natural meadows never suffer in the slightest degree." He does not even believe that there ever would have been a single unwholesome spot upon the earth, if men had not put their hands to it. We are sorry also to observe an author of much greater talents and knowledge than St. Pierre, overlook the justice of God in the present constitution and course of nature, and consider it merely as a display of wisdom and goodness; of wisdom in the mechanical contrivance, and of goodness in the supply it affords to our temporal necessities. "This, however," as our author justly observes, "is a very partial view, and has a dangerous tendency to divert our attention from those manifold signatures of awful displeasure, which are stamped on every part of the terrestrial system. It tends to beget in us an opinion, that we are purely the objects of divine benignity, and that every suffering we are called to undergo is no more than a fruit of paternal discipline, and a means to promote our happiness, and contains in it nothing of judicial animadversion, or that is monitory of heavier inflictions to be endured hereafter if not timely averted." "But if divested of prejudice and guided by revealed light, we take a survey of sublunary nature, or of that system at the head of which we are placed, we shall find that it has undergone a great change on account of human apostacy, that it lies under the frown of heaven, that its order and course is disturbed, and, in fine, that it has become a stage on which the Almighty no less displays his justice and his judgments than his grace and his beneficence, on which his indignation against sin is no less conspicuous than his compassionate regard to sinners." In speaking of the means necessary for obtaining a just knowledge of God, humility of mind and dependance upon divine aid are justly considered as essentially necessary. "The most towering philosopher, though he exalt himself as the eagle, and set his nest among the stars, must stoop to divine instruction, that is, he must divest himself of all vain opinion of his scientific abilities; he must renounce the proud and visionary theories of men who conceal their impiety, and oftentimes their ignorance, under the name of reason; and must come with the simplicity of a child to the school of the despised Nazarene, to be taught the first elements of divine knowledge; or he may find that all his parts and speculations will only serve to work him more deeply into error. All this however must be under stood in conjunction with prayer, which, if carelessly or proudly omitted, there is no christianity would be sufficient to lead the reason to expect that either nature or most profound enquirer to a proper acquaintance with the deity; as on the other hand, we are encouraged to hope that the most illiterate novice, who is seriously attentive to this duty, and at the same time is diligent to improve every means of information afforded him, will not finally be left to perish for want of knowledge. To imagine we can ascend to the knowledge of him, who dwelleth far above all heavens, by study without prayer, or by prayer witha disposition either to exalt unduly the out study, must generally be resolved into powers of the human understanding, or to overlook its proper use; and is in the one case to err with the mere philosopher, and in the other with the enthusiast. Study without prayer is exposed to miscarriage, as it argues a mind presuming upon its own powers, or, at best, grossly insensible of its dependance on the Father of lights, who is wont to conceal himself from those who lean to their own understanding. Even the scriptures themselves are insufficient to conduct persons of this character to the knowledge of true religion, and when in disdain of these infallible oracles, they commit themselves, which is commonly the case, solely to their own researches, as then they are left to wander without any certain guide, they are in still greater danger of proceeding from one fiction to another till they terminate in atheism itself." No less important are the remarks which our author makes upon the knowledge of ourselves. "To know ourselves, is," as he justly and to do this we must be properly acdefines it, "to know our moral situation, quainted with the following particulars, viz. first, with the law of our creation and of our defection from it; secondly, in what degree according to the constitution of the Gospel we must be restored to a conformity with this law, in order to our present peace and final happiness." From defective views of the divine law, the Heathens failed greatly in several important points of practical morality. "To these views it must be ascribed, that a Roman historian represents the second Cato as the very image of virtue, and in the whole character of his mind as approaching nearer to the gods than to men, though we are informed by Plutarch, that this godlike Cato spent whole nights in drunken debauch, and at last laid violent hands upon himself. How to imagine such actions to be consistent with so high a character we know not, unless we should hold with Seneca, that it would be easier to prove drunkenness was no vice than that Cato was vicious, which would be a convenient way to raise men to perfection by lowering the standard down to the level of their imperfections, and even of their vices." This artifice of human pride is not peculiar to the Heathens. If we examine into the several orders of society amongst us, it will appear that they all have their peculiar moral standard, to which, if they approach in any tolerable degree, it is sufficient, as they imagine, not only to satisfy the claims of their own circle and of their country at large, but also of every demand of virtue and religion. If the labouring man is honest, sober, and industrious; if the merchant is fair and punctual in his dealings, regular in his domestic conduct, and occasionally liberal to the distressed; if the gentleman of rank and fortune, besides that high sense of honour, which is supposed to distinguish his station, is generous in his temper, kind to his dependants, and courteous to all; in short, if a man comes up to the law of reputation according to the sphere in which he moves, he will generally be considered by others, and too often by himself, as not far remote from perfection, and as an undoubted object of divine complacence. It was, probably, by this fashionable law that Hume judged of himself, when he asserted that his friends never had occasion to vindicate any one circumstance of his character or conduct; and it was, probably, the same law which dictated to his panegyrist Adam Smith, when he solemnly declared, that both in the life time, and since the death, of his friend, he had always considered him as approaching as nearly to the idea of a perfectly wise and virtuous man, as perhaps the nature of human frailty would permit. That no injustice is done to this canonized phi losopher, in venturing thus to assign the principle upon which both he himself and his encomiast formed so high an estimate of his character, may appear from his own definition of virtue, which he makes to consist in those mental actions and qualities that give to a spectator the pleasing sentiment of approbation, and the contrary he denominates vice. Such is the pious standard set up by some pretended sages, who affect to reclaim the world from its former barbarism and ignorance, and to raise it to its natural state of perfection." To the enquiry how far we must be restored to a conformity with the law we have violated, the author answers, "we must be that habitually and prevalently, which, according to our original state, we ought to have been without the least interruption or imperfection, and in solving the question in what manner it is most usual for men to deceive themselves on this subject, we meet with some observations highly important. Speaking of a faith which is merely historical, our author remarks, "To imagine that nothing more is necessary, than a rational conviction of the truths of christianity, to constitute the faith of a Christian, is an error of fatal consequence, and yet an error very incident to speculative men, who are not apt to reflect that it is with the heart, and not with the understanding only, that we believe unto righteousness; and, therefore, that it will profit little to admit the truth philosophically, unless, at the same time, it be em braced with suitable affections, and attended with effectual purposes of universal obedience. The deception is likely to be still farther increased when to knowledge is added zeal; when a man steps forth as an advocate for truth, and encounters, perhaps, a degree of scorn and opposition in its defence; for then he will be under a temptation to consider himself as a Christian of no ordinary rank, especially if in the struggle his endeavours prove successful. This is a snare, it may be feared, in which many ingenious and learned men are taken, who, after they have unanswerably vindicated the truth of christianity against its adversaries, sit down without deriving any saving benefit from it themselves." "The faith of a sinner," he justly observes, "is, in the first instance, not to believe that he is a saint, but that he may be a saint; not that he is pardoned or that he is saved, but that he may be pardoned and that he may be saved; that a foundation is laid for his return to God through the mediation of Christ, who, in the language of our Church, hath made a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice for the sins of the whole world; and hath procured that divine aid which might enable us to participate in the blessings of this redemption, among which repentance is one of primary importance." On the danger of deceiving ourselves with hopes of pardon, without a thorough change of heart, it is observed, "That there are those who, however they may be shocked at the general idea of impenitence, fall short both in notion and practical attainment of that repentance which is unto life; who imagine that a degree of sorrow for sin, with a confident dependance on the merits of Christ, though unaccompanied by a thorough conversion of the heart to God, is sufficient to authorize an immediate application of the promise of pardon; and that to delay such an application would be to give advantage to their spiritual enemies, and to deprive theinselves of that comfort to which they are entitled. Thus many, by catching at a premature peace, expose themselves to the danger of losing that which would be solid and durable; for although the Gospel holds out a full and general relief, yet being no less a display of the wisdom than of the power of God, it communicates its hopes and consolations only in proportion as men are qualified to receive them. It has its rebukes as well as encouragements, its discipline as well as comforts, according to the several conditions of those whom it addresses. To the thoughtless and profane it cries, How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity, and scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge? When it meets with a serious and awakened en quirer, it further humbles him with its convictions, at the same time that it inspires him with its hopes; it impresses a deeper sense of the purity and obligation of the divine law, while it points him to the sacrifice of Christ as the only atonement for its violation; and unfolds the nature and necessity of true repentance, while it again directs his view to the Saviour of the world as exalted to bestow it, in order to remission of sins; and lastly, to him who truly repents and embraces its promises, and (if life is continued) manifests his sincerity by a course of humble obedience, it speaks fully the language of pardon and peace." The section on the Knowledge of the World contains many just reflections. Under this term the author comprises these three things; first, the knowledge of its exterior, or of its visible manners with the nature and forms of its business; secondly, the knowledge of its interior, or of its secret principles, views, and dispositions; and lastly, of its value, or of the rate we ought to set upon the various objects which it offers to our pursuit. The principal scope of what he delivers on this head may be thus briefly stated: "The true knowledge of the world does not consist chiefly in the knowledge of its manners, its occupations, or its amusements, or of the interior views and principles by which it is governed: for the forwer of these is merely superficial, and the latter is no more than philosophical: but it consists in that knowledge which may be called moral and religious, or that teaches us to set a due rate on every thing around us, by which is not meant its price in the market but its real use to the pos ed; if indifferent, (supposing any thing in this respect can be so) it should be treated accordingly, and either chosen or rejected at pleasure." On the subject of the unsatisfactory nature and danger of all worldly things, we recommend the following observations to the serious attention of our readers. "That the world is unsatisfactory we all have experience, though there are not many who seem to be properly acquainted with its unsatisfactory nature. Hence the generality of mankind persist in seeking their happiness from the same perishing objects, notwithstanding innumerable miscarriages and disappointments, which they rather choose to ascribe to accidental causes than to any inherent imperfection in the things themselves. They cannot resist the persuasion that riches, high place, and sensual pleasures, would yield them fall contentment, provided certain untoward circumstances could be retrenched; and under this deception they return again and again to their former purpose, in hope that by more skilful efforts they shall be able to overcome every adventitious obstruction, and to extract that felicity which hitherto has eluded their pursuit. "Of this fatal mistake no one will ever be thoroughly convinced, till he is brought to a proper knowledge of himself and his situation; till he knows that all creatures, as such, are unequal to his capacities of enjoyment, and that this disproportion is still farther increased by sin; that it is this which has subjected all sublunary nature to vanity, has perverted the just order of human life, tarnished its honours, and polluted its pleasures, and even drawn down a malediction on the very ground on which we tread. When he is fully acquainted with this state of things and not before, his fond dreams of unmixed happiness here below will vanish, he will no longer struggle against the general doom, but contentedly, with the sweat of his brow, eat his bread till he return to the dust, whence he was taken. "To know the danger of the world is to be aware of its powerful tendency to divert the mind from the consideration of a future state. It is not, indeed, without its perils in lower respects; by its wrongs and its flatteries it daily reduces multitudes from opulence to beggary, from honour to shame, and from the vigour of health and strength to the pains and languors of disease, which, if considered, would greatly abate its value with every man of common prudence. But all this is nothing when compared with the danger arising from it to our eternal welfare, by seducing that attention which is necessary to secure it; and whether this is effected by the business or the pleasures, the duties or amusements of life, the result will be the same; if our hearts are in the world we have no treasure to expect be yond it. When, therefore, we see men forward to embark in all affairs, and to mix in all societies without any regard to their final account, we must charge them with that kind of infatuation which those are under, who, for the sake of a trifle, will risk an object of great and undoubted importance, nor will the charge be at all extenuated, however, by their dexterity to assume the spirit and manners of those who are necessary to their purpose, and to shape themselves to all occasions, they may pass in vulgar opinion as masters of life." The general importance of the above quotations, for they may be equally useful to those in the most active as in the most retired situations, must apologize for their length. They are extracted from the first part of the work: the remainder is more particularly intended for the use of persons dwelling in the country. It considers how far retirement is favourable to virtue, and unfolds the evils particularly incident to a retired life. The different sources of happiness peculiar to the country, in its scenery, its diversions, and its agricultural pursuits are displayed, and the pleasures both of a literary and a devotional retirement are explained. The common objection, that a life of retirement destroys or diminishes usefulness is particularly discussed, and the whole is concluded with some useful remarks on the application of the principles which have been laid down, in guiding us in the choice of life. It would give us pleasure to enrich our pages with some of the author's interesting remarks on these subjects, but the limited nature of our review will not permit it. Throughout the whole work we observe an original mode of thinking, and a vigorous and well cultivated mind. It is not, indeed, intended as a book of entertainment, and those who take it up for the purpose of passing away an idle hour in the gratification of a vain curiosity, or depraved taste, will find no novelty to surprise, no visionary theory to amuse them. True philosophy requires, in order to be relished, a sober and serious mind intent on obtaining happiness from the knowledge of truth and the practice of virtue. To a mind so prepared, our author will prove an interesting and useful guide. Having dwelt himself in retirement, he appears to have sur veyed his situation with philosophic attention; has weighed in an even balance, and with an impartial hand, its advantages and its defects; and formtient investigation by the exercise of ed his determinate opinion after paa cool judgment.. But above all he has observed every thing with the eye of a Christian. An eternal world was before him while he contemplated this, and the torch of divine truth was ever held up to direct his steps. With these qualifications we scruple not to recommend the work to every person living in retirement, who wishes to improve as well as enjoy a sequestered life, in such a way as will produce happiness to himself, prove beneficial to society, and glorify the God who formed him and appointed him his station in the world. CVIII. The Natural History of Vol canoes; including Submarine Volca noes, and other analogous Phænomena. By the ABBE ORDINAIRE, formerly Canon of St. Amable, at Riom, in Auvergne. Translated from the original French Manuscript, by R. C. Dallas, Esq. Cadell and Davies, London. THE material world presents, not only at every point of its surface, but also in every one of its caverns and depths which human curiosity has explored, continually accumulating tokens of the stupendous workings of omnipotence. And whether we trace the operations of the divine agency in the tranquil process of vegetation, and the regular revolutions of seasons; or in the terrors of hurricanes, the devastations of earthquakes, and the awful horrors of volcanoes; the result of our contemplations, if they be exercised aright, will, in every instance, be favourable to the improvement, both of the understanding, and the heart. Even those, who have been most blest with opportunities and abilities to discern the glorious display of the divine character, which is exhibited in the volume of revelation; will find that every page of the book of nature, if studied with humility and attention, is capable of ministering to the increase of their devotion. In short, there is nothing, which |