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The subject of liberty of conscience was one which, with the exception of the equality of Catholics in political power, Dr Watson had always advocated. We are not surprised, therefore, to find him strenuously supporting the efforts made by the English Dissenters in the early part of the present century. But it does occasion no small astonishment to observe so firm an understanding give way to the Catholic agitations in 1805 and 1812, and, by supporting these demands, to give, in some measure, the lie to his early principles. His views, to be sure, were always qualified with the clause, that the Catholic claims might be conceded, if sureties for the safety of the measure could be obtained. This guarantee Dr Watson pretended to find in the progress of opinion among the Catholics themselves, both in point of political and religious doctrines, and of general enlightenment by the diffusion of science. But the argument which appears to have weighed most with the Bishop, was the injustice of withholding equality of rights from the Protestant Dissenters, and the alleged inconsistency of granting to them what was denied to the Catholics. This consideration we suspect to have been the main argument which induced the many good men, who from time to time joined the cause, to support

and finally carry emancipation; yet it seems founded on misapprehension, for the cases have not one principle in common. Besides those duties which may be termed public, the declining years of Dr Watson were dedicated to other employments of private beneficence, comforting the afflicted among his wide circle of friends—removing the religious fears and doubts of some confirming the hopes of others in admirable letters, -or engaging in more secular but equally benevolent pursuits. He carried on an active correspondence with almost every man of distinguished talent, both in Scotland and England, who had the public good sincerely in view.

Amid these varied avocations, the viridis senectus, "the green old age" of this reverend prelate and most excellent man, faded slowly under the lapse of time. He can hardly be said to have felt the infirmities of a prolonged existence, till within a year of his departure. This took place on the 4th July, 1816, in the seventy-ninth year of his age. He fell asleep in Jesus, "* illustrating," as his son has piously remarked, "even in death, the truth of his favourite rule of conduct through life- Keep innocency, and take heed unto the thing that is right, for that shall bring a man peace at the last.'

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MEMOIR OF WILLIAM PALEY, D. D.

ARCHDEACON OF CARLISLE.

ENGLISH LITERATURE is indebted to Dr Paley for the completion of a task which, on the whole, has not been so successfully performed in any other language. He has systematized, in three distinct treatises, and in the results of each has harmonized, the common principles of Ethical Philosophy, Natural Religion, and Divine Revelation. In the course of his investigations, these studies have been subjected to a most vigorous and manly logic. While he has preserved for each its own proper individuality of proof, he has solicited for none any particular management, or any special privilege. Even Revelation itself is cast into the furnace of sternest dialectic trial. By the very severity of an ordeal, conducted in the same manner as documents of temporal history are substantiated, he compels an assent to the irreproachable credibility of its heaven-inspired credentials. This is the main point: the truth of Christianity follows as an undeniable and inevitable consequence. But, as if round the circle of proof, we have the Hora Paulinæ, whose objeet-equally original in its conception as successful in its accomplishment-is to substantiate the veracity of the New Testament, from examination of those minute points, which in a true narrative naturally, nay, unobservedly, assume their proper place, and for that very reason, by their absence, contradictions, or forced applications, afford a speedy and infallible test of falsehood. Our plan here admits us to speak only of two of these manuals. They are, however, the most important in their subject, and the best conducted in argument. The "View of the Evidences of Christianity" is the most complete summary of the testimonies to the truth, as it is in Jesus, which has yet appeared. The Hora Paulinæ discovers the most acute reasoning, ending in the most conclusive deductions, to be found in any one view of a single argument of Christian evidence. Altogether, these works present a noble picture of the faculties, duties, and destinies of man, as an intellectual, a responsible, and an immortal being. Each of these mighty interests is illuminated by its own light; but from the third, in its connection with the other two, there is cast over this moral delineation of the human being a living beam from the Sun of Righteousness. There may be differences of opinion as to the philosophy or the politics of Dr Paley; but as to his theology, in the treatises now presented to the reader, one sentiment only has been expressed, "It is alike pious, ingenious, and conclusive."

The author of these truly valuable and masterly performances

was born in July, 1743, at Peterborough, of which see his father then held the humble appointment of a minor canon. Some time after the birth of his distinguished son, Mr Paley was elected to the head mastership of the school at Giggleswick, in Yorkshire. His lady-by name Elizabeth Clapham-was of good family in that parish; and to her interest probably he owed the only advancement he received, or perhaps courted.

Here, under parental tuition, which combined at once the advantages of a public, and the superintendence of a private education, young Paley laid the foundation of his future eminence. At the age of sixteen, he entered as sizar, or free scholar, at Christ's College, Cambridge. Even at this early period, his progress must have been remarkable, for his father, who is himself represented as having been a man of great acuteness, writes thus,-" My son is just gone to College; he will turn out a great man — very great indeed. I am certain of it, for he has by far the clearest head I ever met with in my life." The future eminence of its subject justifies an encomium which unquestionably manifests great discrimination, as well as affection, for of all Paley's qualities-that, indeed, which chiefly imparts weight and value to his other excellencies as a writeris clearness of head.

At first, however, his academical career was neither so brilliant nor quite so industrious as might reasonably have been expected. Two circumstances, indeed, in Dr Paley's personal history, are calculated to disappoint expectation. We naturally anticipate that the powers displayed in his writings must have been cultivated from the beginning with unflagging assiduity; and that these writings having established his fame, should have conducted him to the highest honours of the Church. But if for a season he "dallied with his prime," his subsequent industry was conspicuous; and that he did not die a bishop-if fault there was- cannot be charged upon him. For our own part, we are inclined to believe, that biographers have overrated his alleged neglect of study. They are not always the exercises of a college that form the distinguished author, and still less the distinguished man. At all periods of his life, even from his very childhood, Paley was intensely attached to general reading. Whoever reflects for a moment on the nature of his writings- the vast field of knowledge over which he collects his materials-and that his great merit lies, not in the profundity of his views, not in the originality of his medium of proof, but in the acuteness with which he deduces general conclusions

from a multitude of minute premises, and in the clearness with which he states, the distinctness with which he proves, received truths, will admit that such a mind might frequently, even when most idle as to tasks, have been as well employed in roving through the devious paths of general literature, as in deciding a disputed quantity, or solving an involved theorem.

In mathematics, however the staple of his university, and the study which bore most decidedly on his pursuits,-Paley was the most eminent scholar of his standing. To this department he turned his attention very early, since we find that on his second return after the first long vacation at college, his mathematical tutor found him so far advanced, that he excused attendance on the public class, and only prescribed exercises in private. In all other branches, however, even those in which he afterwards became so distinguished,-ethics and metaphysics, literature and theology, he was not more than equal to the ordinary class of students. The classics he never cultivated; and is reported to have said, that Virgil was the only poet of antiquity whose compositions he could read with a degree of satisfaction. From his own writings this might have been predicated without direct knowledge of the fact. Of all our popular writers, he owes least to the charms of taste, or the splendours of imagination. He compels our assent, but seldom does he gratify our fancy. His truth is satisfactory, because it is truth; but in his composition we entirely desiderate what Pope so happily characterizes as

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-wisdom to advantage drest.

Of the means by which he was recalled, if not from a total neglect, at least from a lax attention to study, Paley himself has recorded the following interesting account. "I spent the first two years of my under-graduateship happily but unprofitably. I was constantly in society, where we were not immoral, but idle, and rather expensive." Throughout life Dr Paley was distinguished for his conversational powers, and his command of wit, sarcasm, and repartee-dangerous accomplishments, except, as in his case, where they are mitigated by religion and benevolence. "At the commencement of my third year, however, after having left the usual party at rather a late hour in the evening, I was awakened at five o'clock in the morning by one of my companions, who stood at my bedside, and said, Paley! I have been thinking what a fool you are. I could do nothing, probably were I to try, and can afford the life I lead; you could do every thing, and cannot afford it. I have had,' continued he, no sleep during the whole night, on account of these reflections, and am now come solemnly to inform you, that if you persist in your indolence, I must renounce your society.' I was so struck," continues the reverend autobiographer, "with the visit and the visitor, that I lay in bed great part of the day, and formed my plan. I ordered my bed-maker to prepare my fire every evening, in order that it might be lighted by myself. I arose at five, read during the whole of the day, except such hours as chapel and hall required, Allotting to each portion of time its peculiar branch of study." The immediate consequences of this new course of life were, that he took his bachelor's degree as "senior wrangler," and with extraordinary honour. But the habit of close application was not assumed for a temporary purpose-it was continued through after life, and mainly enabled Paley to accomplish what he has done. Be the lesson ours, who have yet our task before us, whether in faith, in literature, or in business.

The next three years following his removal from college, on completing his course as under graduate, were passed as teacher in an academy at Greenwich. During this period, though his income as second assistant in a private seminary must have been small, yet such was the resolution of this high-minded man, that he saved money sufficient to discharge the debt which he had contracted while at college. "Such difficulties," says he, in reference to this subject, "though they might, and ought to have been avoided, do still afford a useful lesson to a young man of good principles. The privations to which I then thought it my duty to submit, produced a habit of economy which was of infinite service to me ever after."

In 1765, he became a candidate for one of the prizes annually given to the University by the Members for Cambridge. The subject was a Latin dissertation on the comparative merits of the Stoic and Epicurean philosophy. Paley espoused the cause

of Epicurus, and, but not without difficulty, obtained the prize. In 1766, he took his degree of M.A.; and a fellowship in his college, worth about £100 a-year, having become vacant, Paley was unanimously presented by the society. Henceforward, a course of uninterrupted prosperity and exertion was opened to his talents. For nearly one year more he continued to reside at Greenwich, as tutor to the late Dr Ord of Faruham; and having taken deacon's orders, he officiated also as curate of the parish. Having removed to the university, and becoming resident fellow, he was nominated public lecturer by his former mathematical tutor, Dr Shepherd, now master of the college. In this situation, the most brilliant success attended his prelections; and aided by his colleague in the lectureship, Mr Law, afterwards bishop of Elphin, he raised the reputation of the college to an eminence unexampled in the history of the university.

It is most honourable to Dr Paley, that to the friends whom his attention to public duty in this situation, or to those whom the merit of his subsequent publications attached to him, he owed all his preferments. To the Laws especially, who were his first patrons, posterity is indebted for the leisure which enabled him to produce those works that instruct from his urn;" and which, in their respective spheres, are yet unrivalled. By his friend and colleague, the younger Law, brother of the late Lord Ellenborough, he was introduced to their father, Dr Edmund Law, then master of Peterhouse College, afterwards bishop of Carlisle, and advantageously known by various scientific dissertations. Through his recommendation, Paley was nominated to the rectory of Musgrave in Westmoreland. Upon this promotion, after having held various minor clerical appointments, among others, preacher in the Chapel Royal, Whitehall, which did not interfere with his college residence or duties, he resigned his situations, and quitted the university in 1775. In the course of the next ten years, he successively became archdeacon and chancellor of Carlisle, besides holding various inferior livings in that see. Bishop Porteous of London, presented him to the valuable prebend of St Pancras; and Bishop Tomline made him subdean of Lincoln. For the last and most important of his appointments, he was indebted to the late venerable and philanthropic Dr Barrington, bishop of Durham, who, in bestowing upon our author the rectory of Bishop Wearmouth, worth £1200 per annum, observed, "Be assured, Mr Paley, you cannot have greater pleasure in accepting the living in question, than I have in offering it to you." On his induction to Wearmouth, Mr Paley resigned his prebend and several other livings-still he continued to be a pluralist; but it is not easy to evade the force of his own apology,— “ I am a much greater pluralist in children." He had four sons, and as many daughters, by his first marriage. Neither could any man be more careful in placing proper clergymen over the spiritual guidance of those flocks that were beyond the benefits of his own personal ministry.

We shall now glance at the history of Dr Paley's literary labours. Before any of his great works were completed, he had become well known as an author, by various mathematical papers, published in the most respectable journals of the day, as well as by several occasional tracts and sermons. To these publications, and especially to the high reputation enjoyed by his college prelections, he owed the promotions now mentioned, his friends knowing that he only wanted leisure, to justify their preference by the most splendid contributions to learning and Christianity. Accordingly, in 1785, the very year of his last appointment, appeared the "Principles of Moral and Political Science." This work fixed his reputation, and at once placed him high in the order of superior minds. Its popularity equalled its merits, for the reverend author lived to see it reach a fifteenth edition in less than twenty years. The work, however, strictly speaking, belongs to an earlier period of his life. It was, in fact, a condensed and methodized revisal of lectures delivered at Cambridge as voluntary labour, which at first met with considerable opposition, but being carried through with firmness and regularity, mainly contributed to his own reputation, and to the fame which, during his residence, the college enjoyed. In metaphysical acuteness and profound originality, the work is inferior indeed to Reid, and other Scottish metaphysicians; the lapse of sixty years also, and these the most momentous in the history of the human race, has thrown aside

many of his political maxims; but, as a class book, still used at Cambridge, and in some of the colleges of Oxford, it is unsurpassed for clearness of method and practical arrangement.

Five years afterwards, this was followed, in 1790, by the Hora Paulina; to which, in 1794, succeeded the entire " Evidences of Christianity," a work which, if not suggested by the former fragmentary treatise, was at least encouraged by the successful reception of its predecessor. Soon after the publication of the Evidences," the University of Cambridge conferred upon the author the degree of D.D. an honour truly merited in this instance, and if always conferred with similar discrimination, would be more an honour than it now is. As if resolved to devote the remainder of his days to the sacred cause which he had so long and so victoriously maintained, Dr Paley almost immediately afterwards commenced his Natural Theology. This elaborate treatise appeared in 1801-2. While engaged upon it, he was attacked in 1800 by the disease which finally cut short his precious life. He was, in fact, incapacitated for the discharge of kis public functions. This," says he, "will accelerate my private compositions, and I shall hasten to conclude, while yet I have strength, the last of my labours." Like the apostle whom he so much admired, he thus shewed his willingness to spend and be spent" in the service of his blessed Master. For though he lingered for some years longer, he never recovered the first attack which had surprised him, a robust man, in the midst of his studies. He died on the 25th May, 1805, in the sixty-second year of his age, strong in the faith of that Christianity, the truth of whose promises, and the power of whose evidences, he has so nobly defended.

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Of Dr Paley's character as a writer, something has already been said; we shall, in conclusion, briefly notice in particular, the design and execution of the present treatises. The work on the Evidences is divided into three parts-two directly probative of Christianity, the third disposing of objections. The basis of his system of proof rests upon the miracles which introduced Christianity to the attention of the world. In treating this by far the most difficult, and the most dangerous evidence of the truth, dangerous, we mean, if unskilfully managed, and in practically applying his proof, Dr Paley conducts his reasonings with admirable skill. In the outset, he involves neither himself nor his readers in metaphysical discussions, abstruse definitions, or nice distinctions. He simply assumes what the common sense of mankind admits, that it is highly probable a beneficent Creator would make some revelation of himself to his intelligent creatures, and of his intentions in reference to them. But how is such a revelation to be made? Certainly in a miraculous manner. A miracle alone can give to man a more intimate knowledge, a closer communion with God, than is visible in the ordinary course of Providence. Hence this striking, though irresistible inference, the foundation of Paley's argument, — In whatsoever degree it is probable that a revelation of the divine will should be vouchsafed, in the same degree is it probable that miracles would be wrought. Thus, at once, and in the most simple manner, he disposes of all those embarrassing captious equivocating questions about the antecedent credibility of miracles, with which objectors had previously contrived to perplex the truth. The rubbish being thus cleared away, and the firm ground come at, the archdeacon begins to found the future edifice of his argument. But, how is a miracle to be proved? To this interrogatory, as to an intrenched impregnable position, the enemies of Christianity had been accustomed to betake themselves. We know of nothing in the whole extent of polemical theology more admirably con

ducted than this part of Paley's argument; the answer to this question is, in fact, the whole treatise before us. Why, replies he, that miracles were or were not performed by the first promulgator of Christianity, is a fact. How is a fact proved? By evidence by testimony. Such, also, must be the proof for the performance of miracles. To prove the truth of the Christian religion, then, it requires only that we produce sufficient evidence, by unquestionable testimony, that its first preachers and disciples acted under the conviction that they had witnessed miracles. To prove this directly, is the object of the first ten chapters. In these the venerable author reviews the evidence, both sacred and profane, for the sufferings, labours, and sacrifices of the early Christians. And for what did they voluntarily expose themselves to these things? Because (so proves our author) they acted and suffered under the persuasion that they were witnesses to truths miraculously communicated, and to facts miraculously attested. Finally, he considers the documents through which the narratives of these things came down to us, and here passes, in rapid but convincing examination, the whole question of the credibility of the Gospel history.

His second proposition is an indirect proposition of the truth of the first; namely, that there is no satisfactory proof of persons pretending to be original witnesses of any other miracles acting in the same way. This is a complete demolition of the arguments of Hume and others from fictitious miracles. Here concludes the first part of the treatise, and, indeed, by the reasonings of this first portion, the whole question is virtually decided. The second part is devoted to the consideration of the collateral evidences of Christianity, being a very masterly display of the beautiful harmony between the previous conclusions, when compared with the ancient predictions of inspired men the noble morality of the Gospel- the heavenly character of its Founder before death, and the proofs of his glorious resurrection. The Christian argument is thus rounded into itself like the emblem of eternity, and the circuit of Sion is established as "with towers and buttresses."

From this outline of the Evidences, the reader will perceive the propriety with which, in the present publication, they are followed by the Hora Paulina. The latter, in fact, give the full development of the concluding part of the proof in the first proposition of the latter. The credibility and authenticity of the Scripture history, which are there deduced from various sources, are here proved from a comparison of the writings of Saint Paul with other portions of the New Testament alone. In the Hora Paulina, consequently, the proof is altogether internal. The thought was a most ingenious one, thus to collect an almost countless multiplicity of little incidents, and by their unforced, yet perfect accordance, to demonstrate the truth, not only of Saint Paul's mission, ministry, and writings, but thus substantially to establish the genuineness of the entire canon of Christianity. The nature and value of this mode of argument, from numerous small coincidences to one great induction, we have already noticed in the life of Bishop Watson, and never has it been more skilfully, more honestly, or more convincingly argued, than in the Hora Paulina.

Let the Christian read these works of Paley with care,-their plainness requires only care- and he goes forth into the world armed with mail of proof against every weapon of scepticism. Let the miserable doubter and the vain impugner, read-the Spirit of grace will descend with conviction into their hearts, — and in the language of Cowper, they will

BELIEVE AND LIVE.

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MEMOIR OF SOAME JENYNS, ESQ.

Ir will hardly be denied, that, in their religious treatises, laymen are necessarily more exposed to failure in those requisites which depend upon professional education and theological learning. On the other hand, their contributions to the cause of evangelical truth have been thought more entitled to the recommendations of impartiality and disinterestedness. It is no part of my duty, on the present occasion, to shew that this latter opinion is a prejudice; for what possible advantage can a clerical writer promise to himself, in believing or rejecting upon insufficient grounds, when his own immortal welfare, in common with the salvation of all, is concerned? I shall, however, employ both admissions; either as an apology, or as a distinction in favour of the following treatise, as the work of one who, in the midst of the literature and the business of the world, gave this unsuspected testimony to the veracity and importance of Christianity.

Soame Jenyns, was the son of Sir Roger Jenyns, Knight of Bottisham, in Cambridgeshire, and citizen of London. In that capital, our author first saw the light, towards the close of 1704. His father was of good family, but of small fortune, "which," says the writer of the Collectanea Cantabrigiensis, "being an artful, cunning, intriguing man, he raised to a very considerable estate, by his management in the feu-corporation matters." After the death of his first wife, by whom he had a daughter, Sir Roger married a lady of great beauty, the daughter of Sir Peter Soame of Haydon, baronet, by whom he had an only child, the subject of this memoir. After an extensive course of private education, first under Mr Hill, afterwards with Mr White, both clergymen, and eminent instructors, young Jenyns entered the university at seventeen, and completed his studies at Saint John's College, Cambridge. Having married early a lady of considerable fortune, he turned his ambition to political life, and sat in parliament for Cambridge-hire. Mrs Jenyns was the daughter of Colonel Soame, and having been left a ward of Sir Roger Jenyns, with a fortune of from £20,000 to £30,000, the latter contrived" a match between the lady and his son. The young people were first cousins, and it is generally supposed there was originally but little affection between them. During the life of Sir Roger, however, they maintained "a decent show of attachment;" but on his death, Mrs Jenyns eloped from her husband's residence at Bottisham, and they never afterwards lived together. This unfortunate connection having been dissolved by the death of his wife in 1754, Mr Jenyns married a Miss Gray, a first cousin also, and the lady to whom, it is said, most of his complimentary verses were addressed. Of our author's character as a legislator, no biographer speaks with praise. His conduct, however, deserves the commendation of consistency thus far, that, having taken his seat as the friend of ministry-at the head of which Sir Robert Walpole then was- he continued through all changes, and through every shade of political creed, to support the ministry of the day. By this means, probably, he was enabled to keep his own place of Commissioner of the Board of Trade, for five-and-twenty years. When his constituents in Cambridgeshire disapproved of this plan of voting for himself, as part and parcel of the existing government, as well as of that about to exist, he shifted his seat for Dunwich, and afterwards for the town of Cambridge, which he continued to represent. This uange took place in 1754, and again in 1780, a period of great olitical excitement; and he was finally elected chiefly through the influence of the Duke of Rutland. Regarding this event in our author's life, I find the following characteristic illustration. On a blank leaf of an English version of Orlando Furioso, which belonged to Cole, the antiquary, is the following entry: -"I value this copy the more, though it has lost its title page, as it was given me by my very worthy old friend, honest and most ingenious man, Soame Jenyns, Esq. so long ago as 1743,

who, this factious season, has the fortune to be refused by the faction of Cambridge to be their representative in the beargarden of St James's. Octr. 3d, 1780." "Of liberty," says one of his biographers, "Jenyns was no friend." There seems nothing to sanction this serious charge; on the contrary, it is quite clear that he took the liberty of voting as pleased himself a manly privilege, which it were well if greater patriots than our author pretended to be, ventured sometimes to assert. There is some point in the following verses, in reference to his own political maxims; more especially when viewed in connection with his personal tastes and predilections, as described by a friend," Mr Jenyns is rather of a beauish and finical turn, not at all made for canvassing and caballing at elections. Indeed, he was put forward only because many of the principal gentry refused to stand for the county; and though both Sir Roger and Mr Jenyns himself were of a contrary interest to those by whom the latter was supported, they were thoroughly satisfied with their choice; for he saw that the keeping up of parties was only a political contrivance of a minority in order to make themselves considerable and be taken notice of, yet always avail themselves of every occasion that offers itself to serve their own interests."

A man who once has safely chose,
Should laugh at all his threat ning foes,
Nor think of future evil.
Each good has its attendant ill,-
A seat is no bad thing but still,
Elections are the devil.

And again, from the same poem addressed to his friend the son of Lord Hardwicke.

To me they've given a small retreat,
Good port and mutton-best of meat,

With broad cloth on my shoulders;

A soul that scorns a dirty job,
Loves a good rhyme, and hates a mob,-
I mean who ain't freeholders.

From the public conduct of Mr Jenyns, we turn with pleasure to his private and literary character. If we have spoken lightly of the first, it is not because we do not hold a noble consistency in public principle equally essential to virtue as private uprightness, but simply because our author's political life was too unimportant to be remembered. Had he not been a writer, and above all a Christian writer, he might have voted as thousands have done "quietly for quietness' sake," and their vote of tonight not remembered beyond the walls of the house to-morrow. Of his private character-the main point in the present instance-all speak with respect. Here he exemplified in practice, the requirements of that religion which he has so well defended against theoretical objections. "Mr Jenyns," says the writer of the Athena Cantabrigienses, “is a man of a lively fancy and pleasant turn of wit, very sparkling in conversation, and all this is mixed with the utmost good nature and humanity. I have hardly ever heard him severe upon any one, and by no means satirical in his mirth and good humour." Again, his biographer, Cole, thus sums up the particulars of his character, —“He was a man of great mildness, gentleness, and sweetness of temper, which he manifested to all with whom he had concerns, either in the business of life or its social intercourse. His earnest desire, so far as possible, was never to offend any person; and he made such allowances for those whose dispositions differed from his own, that he was rarely offended with others. He was strict in the performance of religious duties in public, and a constant practiser of them in private. His conversation among his equals was most amiable and engaging; for he possessed a well informed mind, accompanied by an uncommon vein of the most lively, spirited, and genuine wit, which always flowed copiously, but was ever tempered by the most perfect kindness. To his inferiors he was most kind and courteous, not only in his expressions and beha

viour, but in assisting them in all their wants and distresses, ever considering his poor neighbours in the country as part of his own family; and that he might give them his care and protection, he spent his summers on his estate, saying, "I can do more good in my own parish at that time than in any other situation." It is also no ordinary or misplaced eulogium which we read in the obituary of that parish:-" Decr. 18, 1787, Soame Jenyns, Esq. in the eighty-third year of his age, one of the most amiable of men and one of the truest Christians, in whom was united one of the finest understandings to one of the best hearts."

Of Mr Jenyns' literary productions, it is proper here to give some account; at the same time, it is not necessary to say much. It is the lot of some English writers to have their very abortive attacks on Christianity sustained by the splendour of their secular literature. Our author's is a far more desirable fortune. His very meritorious and deservedly popular defence of the truth as it is in Jesus, has buoyed up those productions of his less serious hours, which, though not without merit, would otherwise long since have sunk beneath the waters of oblivion.

To poetry, Jenyns early attached himself. His first work of any length in this walk of literature, is dated 1730, when its author was only in his twenty-sixth year. This was followed by a number of other pieces, original and translated—the longest being a vigorous version of Browne's Latin poem on the Immortality of the Soul, and perhaps the best-imitations of Horace. The object of these latter pieces is thus stated by their author"The following pieces are burlesque imitations; a species of poetry, whose chief excellence consists in a lucky and homorous application of the words and sentiments of any other, to a new subject wholly different from the original. The reader, therefore, is to expect nothing more than an apposite conversion of the serious sentiments of Horace in Roman poetry, &c. into more ludicrous ones on the subject of English politics." In pursuing this plan, Jenyns has shewn an intimate knowledge of the original-much sprightliness of versification, and considerable happiness of witty application. For example –

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Care climbs proud ships of mightiest force,
And mounts behind the general's horse,

Outstrips hussars and pandours;

Far swifter than the bounding hind,
Swifter than clouds before the wind,
Or Cope before th' Highlanders.

The stinging satire of the last application, will be better appreciated, when it is recollected that these verses were published in 1747. It seems highly probable, that these "imitations" suggested to Byron the idea of his "Hints from Horace," which their distinguished author prized so highly. There is often a marked similarity in the turn of the verse and manner of expression. On the whole, Jenyns, as a poet, occupies a respectable station among the numerous imitators of Pope, who compose the school of English poetry intermediate between that illustrious man and Cowper. Ease, elegance, and sprightliness-tolerable learning, and strong leaning towards satire, are the characteristics of this class of writers, in which, as likewise in their deficiency of original invention, compared with their technical address as versifiers, Jenyns largely participates. As a prose writer, our author exhibits a more uniformly serious intention than in poetry. Next to the excellent work now submitted to the Christian reader, his most elaborate prose composition has for its object to explain, by a new moral theory, the nature and origin of evil. This work he terms a "Free Inquiry," treating successively, in six letters, or rather dissertations of evil in general—of the evils of imperfection — of natural, moral, political, and religious evils. These essays were very roughly handled on their first appearance, and even Johnson devoted to their castigation a review which, in Murphy's edition, occupies forty-six pages 8vo. The critic, and length of the criticism, demonstrate the importance attached to the original work, which appears to us inferior to few on the same subject. On this abstruse topic, the most moderate class of writers have committed but more or fewer mistakes, in following

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out one capital and common error. "God made man upright,” says the sacred theory, "but he has found out many inventions.' In tracing the effects of these "inventions" visible upon the aspect of society, moralists have thought that they were explaining the cause of the disorder. They have thus reasoned in a circle, and arrived at conclusions identical with their proofs. In this respect, Jenyns is no worse than others But we are not sure, that some of his expedients to avoid impiety or Manicheism, would not, if followed out, lead to inferences almost equally mischievous, and which, we are certain, he never contemplated.

The last and best work of Mr Jenyns, was the dissertation on "the Internal Evidence of the Christian Religion." The literary history of this work is not without interest. Originally impressed with deep convictions of the truth of Christianity, its author allowed himself to be seduced into doubts, and finally settled in Deism. Renewed inquiry re-established his mind in a rational faith. He subsequently endeavoured to arrange in this treatise the arguments and considerations which had most weight in his case. Immediately on its first appearance, it became popular with all parties, and yet every party in religion and literature expressed the most decided dissatisfaction with some particular portion of the argument, or some special view of the author. Such has continued to be its reception up to the present hour. As a whole, it is admitted to be the best treatise, in its particular range, yet given to the world, but in some respect differing according to the source whence the censure comes- the disapproval of its individual doctrines and reasonings is almost as universal. We have hinted that the circumstances of the author may be pleaded as offering at once an apology and a distinction in favour of his work. They go far also to account for this mixed estimate of its merits. With a more experienced theology, he would have conducted his argument more technically, and without those reckless admissions which offend divines; but, at the same time, he might thus have rendered his treatise less popular with ordinary readers. Let the man of the world, again, who turns away from the evangelical seriousness, and scriptural earnestness of other parts, remember, that these are the sentiments of one who, amid the gay literature and selfish business of the world, thus felt, and thus recommends the power of Christianity.

Of this work it would be altogether superfluous to enter into any minute analysis. Its plan is confessedly popular, a manifest advantage, which continues to be its main recommendation; for now, as on its first appearance, it thus receives attention in quarters whence more abstruse and weightier treatises on religion are excluded. The Dissertation is divided into four distinct heads or propositions, three being preparatory or illustrative, and the fourth a general inference. The first premise the existence of the New Testament Scriptures might perhaps have been at once assumed, without any show of proof. Jenyns, however, has judiciously made his statements on this head very brief. The second and third premises respect, one the doctrines, the other the ethics, of the New Testament; and from the superiority of both, so far surpassing, in sublimity of idea and in beauty of moral precept all that had yet been known amongst men, and still more removed from the uninspired conceptions of those who did actually declare the revelations and preach the truths, the conclusion is irresistible, that the Christian Scriptures derive their origin immediately from God, and that the knowledge which they teach is divine. Such is the argument. In conducting it our author is exceedingly happy in managing the second head, shewing, by powerful contrast, the unspeakable excellence and purity of the Christian doctrines, compared with the absurd and degrading institutions of hea thenism, under all its forms. The third head-the morality of the Gospel is by no means so ably stated. The author has here overlooked the corrective principle of our holy religion,

that Christianity does not eradicate the merely human virtues of patriotism and friendship, or even valour, as he pretends; but only regulates their exercise, exalts their objects, and sanctifies the affections whence they spring.

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