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indeed, is the subject, and so forcibly and earnestly is it here discussed, that it should have a universal circulation.

The following extract will confirm what we have said, and cannot be perused without making a deep impression upon every feeling and honest mind:

"If ever there was a moment, when it would be the interest of every individual to descend a step in his rank in society; actually to sacrifice a part, and a large one too, for the preservation of the rest; if ever there was a moment, when questions of contribution should meet with no reply but in the shape of prompt and willing assent; the present is that moment. We are contending for all we have for all we shall have any future means of attaining! How then will that man stand in the estimate of his fellow-citizens, who, in a moment like this, hesitates and demurs as to his required payments? How shall he be considered, who now casts about in his mind to devise the means of evasion? How shall not he suffer a tenfold degradation, who, to obtain to himself petty advantages, leagues with base and despicable characters of his countrymen, (men, who would prey on her vitals, when their country already bleeds at her heart's core) defrauding the revenue, wronging the fair trader, and, instead of yielding succour in the time of need, availing himself of her necessities to accelerate the destruction meditated on us by our foe. Can such a being profane and prostitute the name of PATRIOTISM by assuming it to himself? Is the murderer humane? Is the avaricious liberal? Is the revengeful placable? Is the robber honest? In just the same degree is the evader of the public taxes, and the fraudulent dealer in illicit trade—A PATRIOT! he may clamour out the name; he may outwardly assume some parts of the character; but, whilst he adheres to his peculiar cast of delinquency, he is a decided foe to his country; he has, in principle, forfeited his allegiance; and is in truth entitled to no protection from the laws: but the laws, more benevolent than himself, still watch over him in all his ways, which are unconnected with his particular obliquity.

"When thus I speak strongly on the subject, let it not be supposed that I am charging with the full extent of criminality, every one who may occasionally have been a defaulter in the cases which have been pointed out. The same circumstances do not strike universally; and what is openly and extensively practised, is very apt to be followed without a due examination of its principle. There is, moreover, that systematic deception too commonly lurking in the human mind, which is effectual to persuade, that what is pleasing or profitable, cannot be very heinous in the practice. It seemed, however, necessary to unveil this deception; more especially at the present moment, when every aid, every resource be comes necessary to the state; when every evasion amounts to a species of treason; and moreover, when every honest contributor, wronged and defrauded by the subtle defaulter, may be considered in some measure as a martyr in the cause of his country. His, however, is the true patriotic character! If we fall, he will enjoy the conscious knowledge of having done his duty; of having done all that was in his power to save his country! If, as I trust, under Providence, there is no doubt, our glorious vessel rides out the storm-he will pride himself in the effectual aid he has given: he may glory in patriotism, animated and adorned by honesty, integrity, and honour."

A Solemn

A Solemn Protest against the Revival of scenic exhibitions and Interludes at the Royalty Theatre. By the Rev. Thomas Thirlwall; M. 4. A Member of the Society for the Suppression of Vice. 8vo. pp. 16.

HAT the aspect of public affairs is of such a cast as to call for the

THA

utmost seriousness and circumspection from men of every rank and station amongst us will hardly be questioned by any one who has the slightest regard for moral conduct. That it should in an especial manner have a deep influence upon those who are the express guardians of the moral character of the nation, will be conceded even by the most careless of observers. At such an eventful period, therefore, when our political existence is at stake, and when we have been called upon by the first authority in the realm to humble ourselves before Almighty God in contrition for our manifold transgressions and profanations, who could have imagined that in the metropolis new places of amusement and frivolity (to speak in the mildest terms) should have obtained the sanction of the magistracy! Yet such lamentably is the case; and that too in a quarter where a theatre of this kind must inevitably prove extremely pernicious; being surrounded by manufacturers and mechanics of various descriptions.

This circumstance has excited the christian and philanthropic zeal of the present energetic protest, the author of which residing on the spot, must be possessed of the best means of ascertaining the magnitude of the evil, which he has here depicted in such terms as cannot we appre. hend but raise a blush in the faces of those who extended their patronage to this receptacle of licentiousness.

Mr. Thirlwall, in this nervous remonstrance, forcibly brought to our recollection the admirable performances of honest Jeremy Collier, which, at the end of the seventeenth century, struck shame even into the bosoms of infidels themselves, threw the dramatic wits into confusion, and elicited from Dryden, though reluctantly, a confession of his errours. May the present seasonable rebuke, produce a still greater reformation! The following representation of the modern drama, deserves the serious consideration of those who would be thought advocates of national purity, while they are warm admirers and patrons of theatrical exhibitions.

"Were our opinion even asked of the morality of the dramatic representations at Drury-Lane and Covent-Garden, we do not scruple to declare our pointed reprobation. They are calculated to corrupt the mo rals, and instil the most dangerous and criminal maxims. Did we wish to root up every religious and moral principle from the heart, to tempt our daughters to barter away the brightest jewel of their sex; to inflame the passions of our sons, and abandon them to their lawless empire; did we wish our children to become familiar with crime, to blunt and deaden those delicate sensibilities which shrink at the touch of vice; did we wish to harden and enure them to scenes of blasphemy, cruelty, revenge, and prostitution, we would invite them to the sight of the most popular plays which are now performed on our stage; we would send them for instruction to the German School, where by the most subtle and malici ous contrivance, vice is decked out in the air of virtue, and the deluded youth is seduced to the road of ruin, while he believes that he indulges

in

in the noblest feelings of his nature; where a casual act of generosity is applauded, whilst obvious and commanded duties are trampled on, and a fit of charity is made the sponge of every sin, and the substitute of every virtue. We would invite them to the plays of Pizarro, the Stranger, and John Bull, where the spurious virtues are blazoned out, and the genuine are thrown in the back ground and degraded. In the one is a bold and sentimental strumpet, whom the passions of lust and jealousy prompt to follow the adventures of her paramour. In the other an adultress, who had forsaken her amiable husband, and lived in criminal commerce with her seducer. In the last is the daughter of an humble tradesman; she suffers herself to be seduced by the son of a Baronet, flies from the roof of her fond and most affectionate father, and afterwards is united in marriage to the despoiler of her virtue. And, to the shame and disgrace of the stage, and the age we live in, these three ladies are the prominent characters of the respective pieces, and instead of being held up instructive warnings to others, are contrived to be made the objects of our sympathy, esteem, and admiration.

"And surely it is no recommendation of our modern dramas, no proof of our superior refinement and delicate feelings, when we not only tolerate, but openly encourage the immodest allusions, which abound in our favourite comedies, and tinge with blushes the virgin cheek of modesty. When the ears are shocked with those equivocal expressions, which the most profligate rake dares not repeat in the drawing room, without incurring the danger of being shewn to the door by the father of a virtuous family. If to this you add the unpardonable privilege, which the performers themselves assume, of improving, as they imagine, upon the author, by additions from their own prolific genius. Their coarse profaneness and shameless blasphemies with which they interlard their speeches, and supply the imperfections of their memory, are too notorious to be denied, and too revolting to the moral feelings to enlarge upon."

We most sincerely hope, that those who have so egregiously erred in licensing the Royalty Theatre this season, will, in consequence of this Protest, be brought to a sense of their misconduct, and when they are applied to next year, offend not again.

The Churchman's Remembrancer: being a collection of scarce and valuable Treatises in Defence of the truly primitive Doctrines and Discipline of the Established Church.

4 Dissertation on the 17th Article of the Church of England; wherein the Sentiments of the Compilers, and other contemporary Reformers, on the Subject of the Divine Decrees, are fully deduced from their own writings. To which is subjoined a short Tract, ascertaining the Reign and Time in which the Royal Declaration before the 39 Articles were first published. By the Rev. T. Winchester, D. D. late Rector of Appleton. A new Edition, with Emendations from the Author's corrected Copy, and the Addition of a Biographical Preface.

THE

HE puritanism, which has cast an indelible stain over the annals of our history of the 17th century, which hurled a monarch from his throne, and, after the cruel mockery of a public trial, by self

constituted

constituted judges, murdered him upon a scaffold, has again broken forth though under a new name. The same fanaticism, the same persecuting spirit, the same illiberal abuse and ungrounded calumny against the lawful ministers of our excellent Establishment; the same belying of the Doctrines of the Church of England, which rendered notorious the misguided schismatics in the time of Cromwell, is now again conspicuous in their lineal descendants of the present day, the men who arrogantly usurp for themselves the exclusive title of True Churchmen and Gospel Preachers. But while the ravings of a Pawson, the malignity of a Hill, and the specious insinuations of an Overton, are bepraised by the sectarian enemies of our establishment, it must give the highest pleasure to the friends of our church to view the manly opposition that is made to these attacks, by her real sons and learned defenders. An opposition instituted on a sincere love for the "truth as in Jesus," and judiciously maintained by a candid appeal to, and rational interpretation of, the holy scriptures, the guide and rule of our faith.

To the exertions of a Pearson, a Kipling, and a Daubeny in the cause of truth, the Editors of the Churchman's Remembrancer have joined themselves as auxiliaries. They have entered upon their career with much judgment, as in their first publication they have had regard to the more particular necessity of the times. The prevailing tenets of the Evangelical Ministers, falsely so called, to promulgate which they compass sea and land, are indefeasible election and inevitable reprobation decreed irrespectively by the Almighty. Tenets, the danger of which is exceeded only by their blasphemy, their cruelty, and their direct opposition to Scripture. These, however, were the peculiar doctrines of Calvin, and these have unfortunately but too many advocates in the present" day of rebuke," who with a pertinacity that is generally found to be the inseparable concomitant of error, insist that these are likewise the doctrines of our Church.

A more satisfactory confutation of this calumny could not be adduced, than what is contained in this short but highly valuable tract. And the plan on which Dr. Winchester proceeds is the most equitable and convincing of any, in which he has been successfully followed by the present learned Dean of Peterborough, that of stating Calvin's opinions on the subjects in dispute, and contrasting them with the sentiments of our primitive Reformers.

The first section then contains a full statement of Calvin's opinions on the subject of Predestination: in extracts from his Institutes, his Commentary on Romans, and his Epistles. The result of these we shall hereafter state from the conclusion of this section: but we cannot refrain from holding up to the detestation and reprobation of those who are the real friends of our Establishment; and venerate the mild spirit of the Gospel, the doctrines contained in the two following extracts, which appear to be dictated by a cool and malignant cruelty, scarcely credible but by those who know how far bigotry, and pertinacity of prejudice will warp the mind.

Quòd igitur sibi patefacto Dei verbo non obtemperant reprobi, probè id in malitiam pravitatemque cordis eorum rejicietur, modò simul

adjiciatur,

adjiciatur, IDEO IN HANC PRAVITATEM ADDIDOS, QUIA JUSTO ET INSCRUTABIDI DEI JUDICIO SUSCITATI SUNT, AD GLORIAM EJUS SUA DAMNATIONE ILLUSTRANDAM." Calvini Inst. Lib. iii. c. 24. ect. 14. P. 7.

"Quanquam in fidem non illuminantur, nec evangelii efficaciam vere sentiunt, nisi qui præordi nati sunt ad salutem: experentia tamen ostendit reprobos interdum simili fere sensu atque electos affici, ut ne suo quidem judicio ab electis different. Quare nihil absurdi et, quod cœlestium donorum gustus et temporalis fides illis tribuitur; non quod vim spiritualis gratiæ solidè percipiant, accertum fidei lumen: sed qui a Dominus ut magis convictos et inexcusabilis reddat, se insinuat in corum mentes, quatenus sine adoptionis spiritu gustari potest gus bonitas."

Respons ad 2dam. quæstionem inter Calvini Epistolas, Col. 434.p. 16. Dr. Winchester thus recapitulates the purport of the copious extracts from the works of Calvin contained in the first section.

"Calvin's doctrine of predestination appears from the foregoing quotations to be resolved into the sole will of God, both as to the elect and the reprobate. As to the first be asserts the decrees of God to be absoJute--without any respect to faith in Christ, or a good life. As to the reprobate, they, by the same absolute and irrespective decree of God are predestinated and determined to sin (see the former of the above extracts) and so to damnation. How he keeps clear of making God the author of sin, it behoves his followers so explain."-p. 17. And this necessary consequence of Calvin's doctrines we recommend to the serious consideration of those who support them; a consequence fraught with mischief, and teeming with blasphemy.

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But it may be worth while to remark, that Calvin's sentiments were once very different from the above: that he once held doctrines much more agreeable to the word of God, much more congruous to the mercy of him who made all things, and hateth nothing that he hath made, and who wouldeth not the death of a sinner," and of "our Saviour, who would have all men to be saved." His opinions in the year 1535, Dr. W. remarks," might upon reflection have taught him more moderation towards those who differed from his later system."

"Præfatio Joannis Calvini in editionem Gallicam novi Testamenti Neocomi, Anno MDXXXV.

"Tandem igitur ubi adfuit plenum illud tempus ac dies a Domino præordinata, adstitit coram Messias ille tot retrò sæculis exoptatissimus ; atque idem illa omnia cumulatè præstitit quæ erant ad OMNIUM redemptionem necessaria. Neque vero intra unum Israëlem tantum illud beneficium stetit, cum potius ad UNIVERSUM HUMANUM GENUS usque porrigendum esset: Quia per unum Christum UNIVERSUM HUMANUM GENUS reconciliandum erat Deo, uti his Novi Faders tabulis continetur & amplissimè demonstratur."-Calv. Ep. col. 543.

"Ad istam Hæreditatem (Regni Paterni scilicet) vocamur OMNES SINE PERSONARUM ACCEPTATIONE, Masculi, Fæminæ, Summi, Infimi, Eri, Servi, Magistri, Discipuli, Doctores, Idiotæ, Judæi, Græci, Galli, Romani, NMO HINC EXCLUDITUR, qui modo arætum, qualis offertur a Patre in salutem OMNIUM admittat, et admissum complectatur." lb. col. 545-p. 16. 17.

The 2d. section is a consideration of the article of our Church, in

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