we have never heard, and doubt whether the intelligence has ever reached this side of the water, of the services rendered by his Lordship to theology in general or to the Church of Ireland in particular. Bishopric of Calcutta.-The Rev. REGINALD HEBER, who has been mentioned as the probable successor to the see of Calcutta, is a very elegant poet, and deemed by his brethren a purely ortho dox minister. He is the editor of the new edition of the works of Jeremy Tay lor, to which is prefixed a life of the Bishop, which has been much admired. Mr. HEBER is the brother of the learned member for the University of Oxford, whose renown as a liberal and extensive book collector is diffused throughout Europe. Morn. Chron. We have it from authority on which we can rely, that the Rev. REGINALD HEBER is appointed to (and has accepted) the vacant see of Calcutta. Mr. HEBER goes out to India forthwith.-Evening Paper. Dr. CHALMERS.-This distinguished divine, says the Glasgow Chronicle, has been unanimously elected Professor of Moral Philosophy in the University of St. Andrews, and he has notified to the congregation of St. John's his acceptance of the office. Some time since he received fifteen hundred pounds from a lady to lay out in any way he thought proper. Of this sum he gave 500. to the Rev. Dr. Burus for the purpose of assisting in the erection of a chapel; 500l. to the Rev. Mr. Marshal; 5007, to Mr. Mair for the same laudable purpose. He has also given 5001. out of his own pocket for aiding the erection of a chapel in the parish of St. John's. Yellow Fever at New York. (A FRIEND thinks that it may serve the cause of humanity to publish the following extract from a letter to him, written by ELEAZER LORD, the active officer of the Peace Society at New York, and dated from that place Nov. 23, 1822, and we have great pleasure in complying with his wish.) "Very soon after receipt of the firstmentioned letter and parcel, I left the city, and remained out in consequence of the fever, and returned only a fortnight since. This calamity of yellow fever is of rare occurrence here, and an immediate removal of the inhabitants from the locality in which it appears, renders it Out of comparatively harmless. We had a slight visitation of the kind in 1819; before that, it was unknown since 1805. The present season about 400 cases were reported, about half which were fatal; its appearance nearly banishes all other forms of sickness. Accordingly, our bills of mortality for the summer shewed a smaller ratio of deaths than usual. 130,000 or 135,000 inhabitants of the city, 120,000 are supposed to have remained in the city and suburbs during the summer. The part deemed infected' was very circumscribed, compared with the area covered by a dense population. I am persuaded you will pardon these details on a subject not uninteresting to philanthropists of whatever nation or latitude, and which is the occasion of so much terror to the species. I am tempted to add, that two things seem to be settled respecting yellew fever; 1st. that by removal from the infected locality, fatal consequences are prevented. It travels or enlarges its district, only by means of victims. 2d. that beyond such locality the sick do not communicate the infection to their nurses or attendants." ANOTHER Shopman of CARLILE's, of the name of Tunbridge, was on the 20th inst. found guilty in the Court of King's Bench of publishing a blasphemous libel on the Christian Religion and the Holy Scriptures, contained in a work called Palmer's Principles of Nature." We understand that FRANCIS MASERES, Esq., Cursitor Baron of the Exchequer, whose liberal exertions for the restoration of the older mathematical writers are so well known to the mathematical world, has nearly completed a collection of those which relate to Optical Science. Amongst the interesting treatises which are reprinted in this volume are the Optica promota of James Gregory, containing the first publication of the reflecting telescope; the Traité de la Lumière, of Huygens; and the Lectiones Optica of Dr. Barrow, a work which has become exceedingly scarce. This work is edited under the superintendance of C. Babbage, Esq., F.R.S., &c. 1823. The present threatens to be an eventful year. The horizon is dan side, and the gathering cle burst. The contest that h ing on for thirty years be and the people of Europɛ, a crisis, and the result will subjugation of the civilized world to an universal barbarous despotism, or the attainment, in all the nations of Christendom, of a more entire and better defined, and more solemnly sanctioned state of freedom than has yet been enjoyed. To which side our wishes and prayers lead us, we need not say; but we have been so often disappointed that we dare not assume the tone of prophecy: we must content ourselves with the persuasion and belief, that He who has all hearts in his hands, and who is King of kings, will overrule all things to the furtherance of his infinitely wise and merciful government, which involves by necessary consequence the final happiness and dignity of the human race. The royal combination, taking the name of The Holy Alliance, is displayed to all Europe in its true character, as a league of brute force against opinions. These "Holy Leaguers," acquiring courage from partial success, and calculating (erroneously, as we trust,) that the quietness of nations is the settled submission of fear, have openly announced it as their will, which is to be sovereign law, that no changes shall take place in the European nations without their fiat. None but legitimate kings, that is, kings who are such in spite of the people, are to be acknowledged, and from these vicegerents of Heaven are to emanate all law and all policy. Every expression of the popular will and feeling is to be treated from the first as high treason. The Greek, on one side of Europe, and the Spaniard, on the other, are to be coerced and chastised by the myrmidons of the northern powers, if they touch the anointed Mahmouds or Ferdinands. Hundreds of thousands of armed machines are to be let loose at once against any refractory people that shall question" the right divine of kings to govern wrong," and dispute the restoration of the Inquisition, or resist the robbery, violation and massacre of whole islands and provinces of Christians. Our indignation at the assumptions of the allied despots, is mixed with unspeakable disgust at their hypocrisy. Of three different and incompatible religions, these men affect a pure zeal for truth, and plant in their assembly the standard of the cross. Under this banner, they proclaim the persecuted Greeks as rebels, and declare their fraternity with the fanatical barbarian of Turkey. Is there a man living, with the heart of a man, who does not pour scorn upon the dishonest faction, though kings compose it, Who e'en while plundering, forge Reli gion's name, To frank their spoil, and, without fear or shame, Call down the Holy Trinity to bless Partition leagues and deeds of devilish ness! Notes from the triple alliance have been delivered to the Spanish Government, and have been promptly and suita bly answered. The ambassadors have, in consequence, demanded their passports, which have been readily granted, accompanied by laconic messages for their masters, which will shew them that eleven millions of people are not to be juggled out of their liberties, or intimidated into a surrender of their independence by a despotic rescript. The temperate firmness of Spain is the theme of universal praise, and is justly considered as a pledge of union and perseverance, which it may be hoped will ensure the success of their righteous cause. Before this falls under the eye of the reader, the part that France is to act in this critical state of affairs will probably be determined. All speculation upon it is, therefore, useless. This only seems certain, that with war or peace it will not be easy for the Ultras in that country te proceed in their attempts to nullify the Charter, without endangering the throne of the Bourbons, Superstition is called in as the ally of this party. The priests are every where employed to preach up the sacredness of kings and the nothingness of the people. Festivals, consecrations, processions, are got up to dazzle the public eye and to keep men from thinking. At Lisle, where twelve royalist deputies were elected, a Te Deum was sung in the Cathedral for their success, and in a loyal song they were compared to the twelve apostles. A peculiarly magnificent mass was performed on the 21st instant, to celebrate the martyrdom of Louis XVI. And with all this, the volatile French seem amused, and they will continue to be amused with the same scenes, unless circumstances should call them to witness and to halloo around spectacles of a very different nature. Portugal and Spain have entered into a treaty for mutual protection. The former country has received assurances of the friendship of the English Government, which perhaps have kept the Holy Alliance from putting the Portuguese also out of the ban of their empire. Portugal has notwithstanding shewn little reverence for royal personages, as such its Queen has been called upon to take the oaths to the new constitution, and on her refusal is obliged to quit the country: she has sent a leave-taking letter to the King, ber husband, containing all the vapouring pretensions and high-sounding menaces which might be expected from a weak woman, inflated by the Bourbon pride and excited to anger by a crafty priesthood. The English Parliament is about to meet, and the Session will be one of the most interesting in the memory of man. The King's speech will probably avow a pacific line of policy with regard to the Continent, but at the same time recommend preparation for any unfavourable contingency. There will be work enough for the ministers at home. Changes have taken place in the administration which foreshew some new plan of finance. It will not be easy by any measures to conciliate and satisfy the ruined agriculturists. Retrenchment and economy must be seriously adopted. The question of Parliamentary Reform will be discussed under more favorable circumstances than the reformers have known for forty years. Catholic Emancipation will take a new shape in consequence of the late outrages of the Orange faction. With this measure will come (when it comes) the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts: at least, the Dissenters should take care that the two measures are not set apart in point of time. It is intended, we understand, to bring before the legislature the subject of religious liberty on its broadest ground, including the claims and the operation of the Church Establishment, and the justice and expediency of prosecutions and punishments for the publication of mere opinions; and though we cannot expect the sudden renunciation of ancient prejudices, or the adoption at once of the liberal course which is equally recommended by philosophy and religion, we anticipate much good from the discussion: all that is wanted to meliorate the public mind is light: the parliamentary advocate of truth may not succeed, as far as the proportion of ayes and noes is considered, but his efforts are never lost: good and great measures may be perfected by being delayed: the present majority have the command of their own votes, but not of the minds of the community, by which all votes are ultimately swayed; and reason and truth, superior in this to parliaments, may be prorogued, but can never be dissolved. P. S. Jan. 30th. The die is cast. The Bourbon of France has announced to the Chambers that the Duke d'ANGOULEME is about to march into Spain at the head He has thus of 100,000 Frenchmen. staked his crown upon the issue; prepared, no doubt, to become either a wanderer or a martyr. NEW PUBLICATIONS IN THEOLOGY AND Cicero de Republica e Codice Vaticano descripsit Angelus Maius, Bibliothecæ Vaticana Custos. 8vo. 128. Memoirs of the History of France, during the Reign of Napoleon, dictated by the Emperor at St. Helena to his Aides-de-Camps, and corrected by Himself. Vols. 1. and II. 8vo. Fac-Simile and Four Plans. In French, 11, 48. English, 17. 88. Journal of the Private Life and Conversations of the Emperor Napoleon at St. Helena. By the Count de Las Cases, 8vo. In French, 18s. English, 17. 1s. An Ecclesiastical History of Ireland. By John Lawson, D. D. 4 Vols. 8vo. 21. 12s. Asiatic Researches; or Transactions of the Society instituted in Bengal, for inquiring into the History and Antiquities, the Ancient Sciences and Literature of Asia. Vol. XIV. 4to. 21. 28. The Domestic Policy of the British Empire, viewed in Connexion with its Foreign Interests. 8vo. 98. On the Statute and Criminal Law of England. By John Millar, Esq., of Liucoln's Inn. 8vo. 98. 6d. The Economy of a Christian Life. By the Rev. Wm. Bingley, A. M., late of Peter House, Cambridge. 58. 6d. Biblical Criticism on the Books of the Old Testament, and Translations of Sacred Songs, with Notes, Critical and Explanatory. By Samuel Horsley, LL.D. F. R. S., &c., late Bishop of St. Asaph. 4 Vols. 8vo. 21. 28. A Scripture Account of the State of the Dead. 18. Thoughts on the Anglican and AngloAmerican Churches. By John Bristed, author of "The Resources of the British Empire," &c. 8vo. 10s. 6d. Palæoromaica; or, Historical and Philological Disquisitions, inquiring whether the Hellenistic Style is not Latin Greek, whether the many New Words in the Elzevir Greek Testament are not formed from the Latin, and whether the Hypo. thesis, that the Greek Text of many The Loves of the Angels, a Poem by The Poetical Works of the Rev. George Crabbe. 5 Vols. 8vo. 21. 12s. 6d. The Story of our First Parents, in one connected Narrative, selected from Milton's Paradise Lost, for the Use of Young Persons. By Mrs. Siddons. 8vo. 5s. 6d. Ode ou the Death of Napoleon Buonaparte; Lines on the Neapolitan Revolution; and other Poems. 8vo. 3s. A Sabbath among the Mountains. Poem. Post 8vo. A The Poetical Works of Barry Cornwall. 3 Vols. Small 8vo. 17. 18. The Poetical Works of James Hogg. 4 Vols. Foolscap 8vo. 17. 10s. Peveril of the Peak. By the Author of Waverley, &c. 4 Vols. Post 8vo. 21. 28. Sermons. On Scripture Difficulties. Twenty Discourses before the University of Cambridge, 1822, at the Hulsean Lecture. By C. Benson, M. A., Fell. Mag. Coll., and Vicar of Ledsham, Yorkshire. 8vo. 128. Plain Thoughts upon the Lord's Prayer, in Eight Sermons. By the Rev. W. B. Daniel. (Dedicated to the Right Hon. Lord Stowell.) 128. Single. The Blessing pronounced by Christ on the Merciful. A Sermon, preached at the New Gravel-Pit Meeting-House, Hackney, on the Morning of Sunday, January 12, 1823, on occasion of the much-lamented Death of Samuel Pett, Esq., M. D., of Clapton, who departed this Life on the 1st January, in the 58th Year of his Age. By Robert Aspland. 8vo. 1s. 6d. An Apology for Christmas-Day; delivered at George's Meeting, Exeter. By James Manning. 8vo. Examples of Juvenile Delinquency no real Ground of Discouragement to the Moral and Religious Instructor: delivered November 10, 1822. By John Clayton, Jun., Minister of the Poultry Chapel, By John Hayden, Curate of London London. 1s. derry Cathedral. 8vo. 8s. CORRESPONDENCE. Communications have been received from Mr. Mardon; A General Baptist; F. B.; and Northumbricus. The controversy on Chapel Trust Deeds is at an end. We present our readers in this Number with an Engraving of the UNITARIAN CHURCH, WASHINGTON, a liberal contribution to our work by Mr. GEORGE COOKE. Since the Number was completed, we have received the following letter from Dublin, enclosing a donation of £2. for WILLIAM ROBERTS, the native Unitarian Missionary at Madras, the miscellaneous contents of which will gratify our readers: To the Editor of the Monthly Repository. SIR, Dublin, 17th January, 1823. I have with much pleasure seen a correspondence between Mr. Aspland and Mr. Ivimey in the Morning Chronicle, relative to the conversion of a Baptist Missionary by Rammohun Roy, which has ended in the complete discomfiture of Mr. Ivimey. I wish that a daily or weekly paper could be generally made use of by Unitarians, in which articles on religious controversy would be found; it is in vain to expect that our opinions will be inquired into through the medium of a monthly publication, dedicated solely to the Unitarian cause, unless the religious public are led to the inquiry by paragraphs in a newspaper. I fear they will not read the Tracts circulated by Unitarians; but what frequently comes before their eyes will at last be read in some leisure hour. I have lately seen an advertisement in the Courier, ending with an offer of a subscription of £1000 towards building a Metropolitan Chapel. I am of opinion that a Chapel, with a Reformed Liturgy, unobjectionable to any sect, would be a true Catholic Church, and as such I would subscribe to it. I sincerely wish we had such a sum to commence a subscription for erecting an Unitarian Chapel here, for we have not one strictly such. If a truly Catholic Church was erected here, I would willingly contribute to the support of it: such church must be necessarily Unitarian. I send herewith £2. for the assistance of William Roberts, of Madras, in his Unitarian labours. Yours, JOSEPH HONE. THE Monthly Repository. No. CCVI.] FEBRUARY, 1823. [Vol. XVIII. An Original Letter of Remonstrance to Richard Baxter, on his treatment of the Unitarians with some Account of Gilbert Clerke, the supposed Author. THE HE following letter was lately found amongst the Baxter MSS. in Dr. Williams's Library. It is without an address, but it is evident that it was sent to Baxter. There is no date, and only the initials G. C. These appear to stand for Gilbert Clerke, with whose history, opinions and style, the letter perfectly agrees. The readers of the Monthly Repository will be pleased with this hitherto unpublished production of one of the early English Unitarians, which will, perhaps, be rendered still more interesting by such a brief account of the supposed author as the transcriber has been able to compile. Should any reader be able to give further information concerning this learned author, the communication of it to this work will be esteemed a favour, and will facilitate the inquiries of the present writer, who is making collections towards a history of English Unitarianism, the final use to be made of which will depend upon the ultimate success of his researches. GILBERT CLERKE was the son of -John Clerke, school-master, of Uppingham, in the county of Rutland. He was admitted into Sidney College, Cambridge, in the year 1641, being then scarcely fifteen years of age. In 1648, he took the degree of M. A., and was made Fellow of the house. At the age of twenty-five, he received (1651) Presbyterian orders, and his allowance in the college was thereupon augmented, as the statutes require for those that are ordained priests. He was created proctor of the University the next year. He left his Fellowship after the Commencement, 1655, refusing on grounds of conscience to take the degree of Bachelor of Divinity to which the statutes obliged him. On quitting the University, he retired, one authority says generally, into Northamptonshire, another says to Stamford, where, it is added, he lived long. By the death of his elder brother, about the time of his giving up his Fellowship, he came into possession of an estate of £40. per annum, which was looked upon by his friends as a providential blessing, he being thus saved from want. He died some time between the years 1695 and 1698.† Nelson gives this candid character of Clerke: "His learning lay chiefly in the mathematics, but he was also esteemed a very good Grecian, and a great scripturist. He chiefly consulted' the modern critics, when he read the Bible, not omitting the Polonians, or else trusted to his own invention and sagacity in that part of divinity, without ever advising with the ancients, of whom he had a very low esteem. He thought the controversy between us and the Church of Rome not worthy his study; because the errors of the Papists seemed to him so gross and palpable, as not to need it. He betook himself, therefore, to read the Nelson, in his Life of Bishop Bull, (8vo. 2nd edition, 1714,) p. 512, from whom the above particulars are derived. + Grounds and Occasions of the Controversy, concerning the Unity of God, &c. By a Divine of the Church of England, 4to. 1698, p. 17. This is the 4th tract in the 5th volume of the old Unitarian Tracts, a volume exceedingly scarce, and until very lately hardly known to be in existence. The writer ascertains this fact from a comparison of dates. Clerke's last known publication, to be presently specified, appeared in the year 1695, and the tract, just quoted, dated 1698, refers to him as amongst deceased Unitarians. |