natter of this prophecy is a woe, or judgement. 2. That the object of this woe is the Land of Egypt itfelf, or fome of the contiguous countries. 3. That the time of the execution of the judgement was at hand, when the prophecy was delivered.

"I fet out with confidering every one of thefe affumptions as doubtful; and the conclufion to which my investigations bring me is, that every one of them is falfe. First, the prophecy, indeed, predicts fome woeful judgement. But the principal matter of the prophecy is ro: judgement, but mercy; a gracious promife of the final reftoration of the Ifraelites. Secondly, the prophecy has no refpect to Egypt, nor any of the contiguous countrics. What has been applied to Egypt is a defcription of fome people, or another, deftined to be principal inftruments in the hand of Providence, in the great work of the re-fettlement of the Jews in the Holy Land; a defcription of that people, by characters by which they will be evidently known, when the time arrives. Thirdly, the time for the completion of the prophecy was very remote, when it was de. livered, and is yet future; being, indeed, the feason of the Second Advent of our Lord." Pp. 9-14.

The Bishop then proceeds to develope the meaning of the chapter, in the manner he had propofed, which he executes with great learning and ability After this he gives the whole chapter tranflated, according to the fenfe he had eftablished by grammatical investigation. The detail of this inveftigation we fhall not enter into at prefent, leaving it for confideration in a fubfequent number; and we fhall conclude what we have to fay, by exhibiting the Bishop's translation, contrafted with that used in our churches::

Bishop Horley's Tranflation.

ISAIAH, Chap. xviii. "1. Ho! Land. fpredding wide the fhadow of (thy) wings, which art beyond the rivers of Cufh.

2. Accustomed to fend meffengers by fea,

The Church Translation.

"ISAIAH, Chap. xviii.

"1. Wo to the land fhadow. ing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia:

2. That fendeth ambaffadors by the fea, even in veffels of bulEven in bulrufh-veffels, upon rushes upon the waters, faying, the furface of the waters!

Go fwift meffengers, Unto a nation dragged away and plucked,

Unto a people wonderful from their beginning hitherto,

A nation expecting, expecting, and trampled under foot, Whofe land rivers have spoiled.

NO. XIV. VOL. III.

Go ye fwift meffengers to a na tion fcattered and peeled, to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden down, whofe land the rivers have spoiled.

Thus we have put the reader in poffeffion of the Bishop's design, and the conclufion he draws from a minute study of this chapter. The procefs by which he arrives at that conclufion will be the fubject of future criticism.

(To be continued.)

ART. V. The Infpector, or Select Literary Intelligence for the Vulgar, A. D. 1798, but correct A. D. 1801, the First Year of the Nineteenth Century. 8vo. Pp. 252. Price 5s. White. Wright. London. 1799.

THIS

THIS is a well-intentioned work, but quaint and fingular, as appears in the very title; for what but fingularity could fuggeft to the author to fpecify in the title, as he has done, the difference fo well known between the vulgar and true æra of our Lord's birth. The writer is certainly a man of learning, research, and difcernment; he has taken up a fubject of infinite importance; the literature of the time, as it influences the religion, the morals, and the politics of the world; this is the fame field as the author of The Purfuits of Literature has chofen; and the style and manner of that author, in his notes and preface, particularly in his abundance of Latin and Greek quotations, feem to be imitated by the author of the INSPECTOR; whether well or ill, may be judged from the following paffage, extracted from his addrefs to the Literati of the British dominions, which, at once, gives a view of his design in this publication, and a specimen of his ftyle and manner :

"The INSPECTOR, who now freely offers his fervices to the Literati of the British dominions, in a publication, (which, if patronized, will be occationally continued, gradually filling up the comprehenfive outline of the firft part,)-has been trained in the 'schools of the prophets'-both oriental and occidental, and ftudied scientific philofophy under the aufpices of the great Hipparchus, its founder• P1randiox, the fuperlative lover of truth,'-as he is defcribed in the highest of all eulogies, by his excellent biographer and commentator Ptolomy--the father of fcientific chronology; and under the higher aufpices of- The truth-the light of the world,' and his chofen evangelifts and apottles :

Αληθεύοντες εν αγαπη.

Telling truth in charity.'

The whole truth, and nothing but the truth.'

with whom, in his riper years, he has principally converfed,- fmit with the love of facred fong.'-And, after long rumination, as a

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retired

retired ftudent, watching the figns of the times-after fome unavailing effays and much difcouragement-would now be willing, if liftened to, to bring the difpute with French philofophifm, German illominifm, and English Unitarianifm, to a short iffue in his own way,' -byre-afcending' to the facred fources of original information, in Religion and Philofophy, without refpect of perfons,' hypothefes, or fyftems in either, whether orthodox or heterodox.-By careful and circumfpect research, conducted upon fcientific principles, to develope and expofe the new metaphyfics, new politics, new philofophy, and new divinity, which have glided unawares, by the contagion of the times,' into fome of the most admired publications of the prefent day: -among which, perhaps, the public will be furprized to find ranked even the truly refpectable author of the Purfuits of Literature'-in his unconditional recommendation of Clarke, Jenyns, and Paley, as correct elementary standard books-however valuable to readers of a higher clafs.-Even the meritorious labours of a Michaelis, a Dathè, an Eichhorn, and a Griefbach abroad, and of a Newcome, a Lowth -and of a far inferior, Geddes, at home-will not all stand the fore teft of the Ithuriel fpear of Truth, but fometimes ftart up in the form of error and idle affertion: nay, the decifions of our best and longet eftablished Reviews-thofe admirable literary almanacks of the times ---condensing much curious, important, and often original infor mation, into the narrowest compafs, when weighed in the scales of found and scientific criticifm, will fometimes be found wanting. "To remove, therefore, from error the powerful weight of fuch high and impofing authorities, as----

Virtutis veræ cuftos rigidufque fatelles,

"A guardian and rigid fentinel of real virtue,'

is the INSPECTOR's prime object; as will more fully appear in the progrefs of this publication." Pp. 12---15.

The author then proceeds to examine the nature, progrefs, and effect" of thofe three philofophifing schools in Christendom-French philofophy, German illuminifm, and English unitarianifm." The work is employed upon diffecting this body of philofophifm-" a triple-headed fpectre," as he calls it, which, in various fhapes, and, in divers difguifes, is artfully contrived to draw unfufpecting readers into the magic circle of its fafcinating influence: this fpectre he follows, in its lurking places, through the writings of Voltaire, Rouffeau, D'Alembert, Diderot, Frederic of Pruffia, Condorcet, Mirabeau, Hume, Gibbon, Volney, Priestley, Price, Lindley, Weishaupt, Eichhorn, Wieland, Paine, Geddes, Belfham, Wakefield, the Monthly Reviewers, and others, who are all, in their turn, examined, with proper feverity, by the Infpector. Nor does he confine his criticifm to fuch writers as are openly inimical to our religious and moral fyftem, but he applies a due animadverfion to the wanderings of fome perfons

of

of eminence, who are, upon the whole, undoubtedly, ornaments to literature, but have, unfortunately, broached certain opinions which the Infpector confiders as capable of leading, or giving countenance to, the deteftable philofophy he is combating; among these are Michaelis, Griefbach, Lardner, Paley, Newcome; but names of fuch refpectability as thefe are never difmilled without due acknowledgement of their real merits.

The great utility of this INSPECTION of Literature, according to our opinion, is in the frequent application the. author makes of his criticifm to the promotion of fcriptural learning. A fpecimen of this may be feen in the following ftrictures on fome of Mr. Belfham's opinions refpecting the Sabbath and Lord's Supper :

"The following latitudinarian pofitions of Belfham, appear to have ftartled his Reviewers themfelves :--

We cannot refrain from noticing that among what will be deemed fingular doctrines, and which muft fhock the minds of many ferious Chriftians; our author contends, in feveral parts of these letters, that a Sabbath-day makes no part of Christianity;' afferting that, to a true Chriftian, every day is a fabbath; every place, a temple; and every action of life, an act of devotion.'

"A Sabbath-day, or day of holy reft, confecrated unto the Lord, the God of gods, as the folemn and public teft of the allegiance of all his rational creatures, was the uniform ufage of the Partriarchal Church from time immemorial, and alfo of the Jewish, from its earliest institution on the model of the Patriarchal---a ufage founded on the wifest human policy, as well as on the pofitive law of revelation. The profanation of the Sabbath, therefore, or proftitution of it to fecular ufes, was confidered, from the primitive times, as an overt act of high treafon against the Majefty of Heaven :---thus, the obfervance of the Sabbath among the Ifraelites appears to have been an old, established ufage, prior to the grant of the Law on Mount Sinai, (Exod. xvi. 23.) and its due obfervance miraculouily provided for, in the defert, by a double fupply of manna for the multitude on the preceding day. It was afterwards guarded by the fourth commandment; and a flight breach thereof, even gathering a few flicks,' was punished with death, and that by the exprefs command of the Oracle, when confulted by Mofes, in a cafe where the penalty had not been specified in the divine code. (Numb. xv. 35.)

6

"By the authority of Him, who was Lord even of the Sabbath,'. the primitive Lord's day, which was Saturday, the laft of the week, in memorial of the Creation having been finifhed, when the Author of Nature refted, as it were, from his good good,' or excellent works, was transferred, under the Chriftian difpenfation, to Sunday, the first day of the week, as a memorial of our Lord's refurrection, or commencement of the new Creation of the human race, on which life

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