its truth. It would be unfair to abridge so complete and extended a discussion; yet we cannot omit to extract the following admirable and original reasoning of the author on the superior theology of Moses above that of the ancient philosophers, and on the manner in which it is to be accounted for, the rather because part of it will be found to elucidate an argument into which Mr. Heber's view of the religion and virtues of the heathen induced us to enter in our last volume, p. 594. "Should it be still urged, that, allow ing the founders of the Greek philosophy not to have made the proper conclusion from the arguments which prove the existence and unity of the Creator, yet there are arguments which demonstrate it, which might have occurred to Moses, though they did not occur in the same force to them: it may be farther shewn, in reply, that this is no less untrue in fact than improbable in appearance. There are no arguments which can ascertain the existence of a Creator, which may not be referred either to the necessity of a First Cause, which is the method Clarke has followed; or to the appearances of design in the construction of the world, irresistibly indicating a Contriver, which is the ground which Paley, after a multitude of predecessors, has so ably taken and maintained. "I. Neither of these trains of reasoning were unperceived by the Grecian masters of philosophy. The very process pursued by Socrates is detailed at large. To his solid understanding, says Xenophon, it appeared contradictory and absurd to honour the painter and the statuary, because their senseless and inert imitations resemble the form of man, and not to honour the unseen Maker of man himself, endued with sense and motion. It seemed contradictory to admit design in the works of human art, which are seen to correspond with their intended use, and at the same time to suppose that the sensitive faculties of man proceed from chance; to allow to the mind of man the power of governing the body, and to deny to the Mind of the universe the power of ruling the world. made little addition except that arising from cumulative evidence, Socrates persuaded his hearers of the intelligence, the constant presence, and the superintendence of the gods; and seems to have stood alone among the ancients, as was before observed, in applying his speculative belief to the practical purpose of regulating the lives and conduct of his disciples. Yet did he arrive at a distinct conclusion, or inculcate a simple belief of the unity, like Moses? To say nothing invidiously upon the obscurity which hung over his own mind, and which many of his habits betray (for he was constant in sacrificing both in private, and at the public altars, and often applied to divination"); Xenophon, even whilst he is relating the successful arguments of Socrates, speaks commonly of a plurality of gods; and we find it openly asserted by his illustrious disciple Plato, in a strain the most opposite to that of Moses, that' to discover the Artificer and Father of the universe, is indeed difficult; and that, when found, it is impos sible to reveal him through the medium of discourse to mankind at large.' Accordingly, in an oration supposed to be held in public, we find Plato reasoning to the people with every appearance of seriousness on the certainty of their having sprung from the soil of their own country. "II. The other course of argument, viz. the necessary existence of an Eternal Being as the prime mover of the material part of the creation, was first insisted on, as far as 1 am aware, by Aristotle. The following passage, however, is sufficient to prove that it was well understood by that philosopher: I affirm,' he says, that the Deity is an animate Being, immortal, excellent; since life and an uninterrupted eternity belong to God; for this is God. But they are in error who think, with the Pythagoreans and Speusippus, that what is most excellent and perfect is not the original; reasoning in this way, that the causes of plants and animals exist first in their seeds, from whence afterwards their perfection proceeds. For the seed of which they speak, comes itself from others that were before perfect; and the real original is not the seed, but the perfect plant or animal. It is plain, therefore, that there is some Being eternal and unchangeable, and separate from the objects of our senses." "Here we seem to have discovered the truth for which we are searching; and might expect that the author of the sentences above cited, had established a system of pure theism. Yet in the same treatise which contains this sub. lime argument, we find, to the humiliation of reason, that this first moving Deity was incorporated by Aristotle with the world, which is supposed equally eternal and incorruptible with himself. So that it has even been a question, whether he who first saw the metaphysical necessity of a First Cause, ought not to be reckoned among the atheistical philosophers. "Had there not been preserved to us passages of this nature, enabling us to judge of the effect produced by analogical and demonstrative argument, upon the mind which has no other instruction; it might not have been safe to deny that Moses could have been led by the mere force of such reasoning to assert the existence of one God, the Creator of heaven and earth. But knowing, as we thus do, the insufficient result both of analogical proof and systematic demonstration, we surely are bound to believe that some more sen sible evidence lay before the writer, was present to the mind of Moses, of held the steps of demonstration which led to it: what justice could there be in imagining that its effect would have proved more general than that of Socrates, or produced a system less embarrassed and inconclusive than we have found in Plato or Aristotle? Can it be contended that the Jews, in the time of Moses, were in such a state of improvement, as to see intuitively the process of argument which ended in the infer of the author on the nature of the proofs which it exhibits. "If the existence of an immaterial Creator is not a subject of mere speculation, but a fact upon which a certain course of action, and peculiar durial to inquire what degree of evidence ties, depend; it is undoubtedly matemankind, and bind them to the permight justly be supposed to influence formance of those duties. The highacknowledged to be intuition and deest degrees of evidence are generally only acquaints us with our own existence: monstration. But intuitive evidence if, therefore, we admit this species of ledge, and limit our actions, to the de evidence alone, we confine our knowductions from this single fact. If we only truth relating to this subject, expect demonstrative evidence, the which cannot be denied without in volving a contradiction, is the naked eternity. Can it be reasonably argued, proposition, something has existed from that we are to extend our belief no far ther, and that no actions are binding upon us, that do not result from one of these acknowledged facts? such a conclusion, and if it is incon"If common sense revolts against sistent with the nature of things, that intuitive or demonstrative evidence should reach all the various truths about it becomes an interesting object of which the human mind is conversant; inquiry, what species of evidence ought and whether, in the view of moral obto be deemed binding upon mankind; ligation, there is any just ground for that distinction between the degrees of evidence which has been commonly acquiesced in. which mankind are placed, it appears "If we consider the circumstances in that the several kinds of evidence, that derived from intuition, from deral reasoning and from human testimony, monstration, from the senses, from mohave each their respective provinces, ence proposed to them? It may rather and, if complete in themselves, carry be affirmed, that no man could have proposed such an inference so nakedly and gratuitously, unless it were supported in the minds of his hearers, by familiar and indisputable testimony." Sumner, vol. I. pp. 203–208. We quit this part of the subject with the clear and able statement CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 182. with them an equal degree of assurance. Our own existence we infer from consciousness. The existence of other things we perceive by sensation. Abtion. But the use of moral evidence, stract truths we learn from demonstraand of that derived from human testimony, is far more general; and upon these we depend, and must depend, not only in matters relating to the ad Q இச் vancement of science and learning, but in almost every thing which concerns our conduct and directs the management of our lives. Any attempt to exalt one of these species of evidence to the depreciation of the rest, is scarcely less unphilosophical than to misapply them. Des Cartes has been justly ridiculed for taking the pains to prove his own existence by demonstration, which he learnt from consciousness. But it is, in fact, a similar absurdity to require demonstrative proof of that which we know by sensation, as the existence of • external things; or to demand sensitive proof, or demonstrative proof, or intuitive conviction, of that which is in its own nature incapable of any other than what is called probable evidence, viz. the existence of such or such a person, or the occurrence of any particular fact, at a thousand miles distance, or a thousand years ago. "If it be argued, that this evidence is liable to error, and may mislead us; I answer, that there is no evidence in which we may not be mistaken; and that it is our business to examine into it, aud to take care that we are not deceived. We may be deceived even by trusting implicitly to intuitive evidence; by which it has been commonly asserted, that we immediately acquire the knowledge of our own existence. But Mr. Stewart has acutely observed, that it is not our own existence which we learn from consciousness, but the existence of the sensation, from which the understanding infers the existence of the sentient being. "Berkeley and Hume argue, that the senses may be deceived, and therefore require other and farther proof of the existence of a material world. But so may reason be deceived. How grossly was the reason of the greatest philosophers, from the age of Aristotle to that of Reid, mistaken, in supposing that the ideas we possess of external objects were resemblances of those objects! It is no doubt true, that we cannot be mistaken as to the notions of our own minds; but we may be mistaken as to their relation to other notions, in which mode alone can they furnish us with demonstrative knowledge. Even with respect to mathematical truths, the proper field of demonstration; can any thing, except imagination or theory, persuade a mathematician, that he is more certain of the equality or inequality of certain angles, which he proves by demonstration, than of the real existence of the pen with which he describes his diagram, which he learns by sensation? "The object of these remarks is by no means to throw a doubt over the certainty of all evidence, but to question the propriety of allowing the justice of the distinction commonly made between the several species of evidence. In conducting the affairs of life, undoubtedly, the proper inquiry is, not whether a particular fact or proposition is supported by the highest degree of evidence, but, whether the evidence on which it rests is of the proper sort, and complete, according to the matter about which it is conversant. The world is so constituted, that we must sometimes depend upon consciousness, and sometimes upon our senses; that in some cases we must be guided by reasoning, whether demonstrative or analogical, and in others by human testimony: the force therefore of each species of evidence is equal, and in their peculiar province the power of each is paramount; and all that we can require is, to know the truth according to the most infallible certainty which the nature of the particular case can yield. "Indeed, if it were not just and reasonable to place effectual reliance on what is termed probable evidence, the business of the world would soon stand still. Human testimony is the mainspring of all that is planned or done at the bar, in the forum, or in the senate. Moral probability is all that we attain, or seek to attain, in politics or jurisprudence, or even in most of the sciences. Nor is it too much to affirm, that every individual risks without hesitation his health, or his life, or his fortune, or reputation, daily in some way or other, on the strength of evidence which, if it came to be narrowly examined, would not appear to have half the certainty which we may arrive at, respecting the miraculous deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt, and the veracity of the Mosaic records. The word probable, when applied to evidence of this nature, does not imply any deficiency in the proof, but only marks the particular nature of that proof, as contradistinguished from other species of evidence. It is opposed not to what is certain, but to what admits of being demonstrated after the manner of mathematicians.' "The consideration as to what sort of evidence mankind are at liberty to refuse, or bound to receive, when applied to the being of a Creator, is not one of speculative inquiry, but of important and awful responsibility. No fallacious theory, no hypothetical dis tinction between the several species of evidence, will be available on that day, 'when the last account betwixt heaven and earth is to be made.'" Sumner, vol. I. pp. 251-259. LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL INTELLIGENCE, &c. &c. GREAT BRITAIN. In the press :-A System of Mechanical Philosophy, by the late Dr. John Robinson, of Edinburgh, edited by Dr. Brewster, comprising the most recent Discoveries, in 4 vols. 8vo. ;-a History of Mohammedanism, by Mr. C. Mills;an Inquiry into the Effects of Spirituous Liquors on the Physical and Moral Faculties of Man;-An Examination of the Prophecies, with a View to passing Events, by Mr. Bicheno;-A Course of Lectures on the Church Catechism, for every Sunday in the Year, by the Rev. Sir Adam Gordon, Bart.; Serious Warnings, by the Rev. J. Thornton, in 1 vol. 12mo.;-and some detached Portions of an Epic Poem, with a Poem in Greek Hexameters, by Mr. Bayley, formerly of Merton College. Preparing for publication:-Two Volumes of Practical Sermons, by the late Dr. W. Bell;-Description of the Remains of Antiquity on the South Coast of Asia Minor, by Capt. Beaufort; Outlines of Geology, by Mr. Brande, of the Royal Institution;-A Journey through Asia Minor, Armenia, and Koordistan, in 1813 and 1814, by J.M.Kinneir. A new weekly paper has lately appeared, called The Philanthropic Gazette, announced as particularly adapted for the use of schools, families, and benevolent societies. Oxford. The following are the subjects for the Chancellor's Prizes for the year 1817. For Latin verses, 66 Regnum Persicum à Cyro fundatum." For an English Essay, "On the Union of Classical with Mathematical Studies." For a Latin Essay, "Quam vim habeat ad infor mandos Juvenum Animos Poetarum Lectio?"-For Sir Roger Newdigate's Prize, "The Farnese Hercules." Cambridge. judged to H. C. Boutflower, scholar of St. John's, for his Essay on the following subject: "The Doctrine of the Atonement is agreeable to Reason." The subject of the Hulsean Prize Dissertation for the present year, is "The probable Causes of the apparent Neglect with which some celebrated Writers of Antiquity treated the Christian Religion." The Seatonian Prize for 1816 is adjudged to the Rev. C. H. Terrot, M. A. of Trinity College, Cambridge, for his Poem on "Hezekiah and Sennacherib." The subject of the Norrisian Prize Essay for the present year is, "The internal Evidence of the Genuineness and Authenticity of the Gospels." The subjects of the Members' Prizes for the present year are: For Senior Bachelors, "Utrùm Sibyllina Oracula è sacris Judæorum libris compilata fuerint." Middle Bachelors, "Utrùm rectè judicaverit Cicero, omnia Romanos aut invenisse per se sapientius, quàm Græ, cos,aut accepta ab illis, fecisse meliora." -The subjects for Sir William Browne's three gold medals are, for the Greek Ode, Tà wárta, idov o'ti naha' λlar (Gen. i. 31.) For the Latin Ode, "Iol Debellata.” For the Epigrams, Αἱ δευτέραι φροντίδες σοφώτεραι The Chancellor's third gold medal is to be given this year to the best English poem; the subject "Jerusalem." Dr. Smith's annual prizes of 251. each, to the two best proficients in Mathematics and Natural History amongst the commencing Bachelors of Arts, are this year adjudged to Mr. John Thomas Austen, of St. John's College, and Mr. Temple Chevallier, of Pembroke Hall, the first and second Wranglers. • The general bill of christenings and burials in London, including the 97 The Hulsean Prize for 1816 is ad parishes within, and the 17 parishes without the walls: the 23 out-parishes in Middlesex and Surrey, and the ten parishes in the city and liberties of Westminster, is as follows:-Christened, 12,132 males, 11,449 females; in all, 23,581. Buried, 10,105 males, 10,211 females; in all, 20,216. It is affirmed, that frosted potatoes may recover their qualities and flavour by being soaked for three hours in cold water (not freezing), to be changed every hour. They may also be converted into starch. A French brig, laden with wines, we are sorry to say, was lately wrecked on the Penbryn Sands, in Wales, when she was shamefully pillaged by the neighbouring peasantry. The Bishop of St. David's, with that humanity and patriotism which belong to him, has addressed a circular letter to his clergy, reprobating the disgraceful transaction, conveying to them his warmest wish and injunction to lose no time in representing to their congregations, in terms "sharper than any two-edged sword," the cruel and un-Christian enormity of plundering wrecks; and recommending it to them to preach on this subject at least twice in every year, pressing on the consciences of the people the flagrant criminality of the practice. A working smith and farrier, of the name of Thomas, at Newport, in Monmouthshire, is said to have invented and completed a clock, upon an entirely new principle. It goes for the space of 384 days by once winding up; it has a pendant, and vibrating seconds; the plates and wheels are of brass, and the pinions are of cast steel; the dial plate shews the minutes and seconds. This ingenious piece of mechanism has hitherto performed its operations with the utmost correctness. We formerly alluded to the new engine for printing by means of steam. Its capabilities have lately been much improved. With the aid of two or three boys, it perfects about one thousand sheets an hour; while a common press, wrought by two men, requires eight hours for the same result. The opera tion of the new engine somewhat resembles that of the rolling press of copper-plate printers. Sir H. Davy's wire-guaze safe-lamp has now been in generál use in almost all the northern mines infested with fire damp, for about eight months, without a failure. The following is a brief view of the The well-known individual who, during some of the last eventful years, is ge nerally understood to have conducted the political department of the newspaper called The Times, having withdrawn from his connection with that journal, has undertaken the entire management of a daily morning newspaper formerly called The Day, but which is now called The Day and New Times, and which he announces his intention of conducting on the same independent and patriotic principles which have hitherto guided his pen. "From those party attachments and connections," he observes, "which might warp his judgment, he is well known to be free. His characteristic is independence; but he is no lèss averse to encouraging mobs, and riots, and couvulsions in the state by a timid vacillating half-censure, than by open and undisguised approbation. When the constitution is assailed, the government, as a part of the constitution, ought to be supported with heart and hand, with sure exertion, and with fixed confidence." It is a part of his plan to furnish a regular weekly Antidote to the poison disseminated by Mr. Cobbett, in his two-penny weekly Political Register. The first Number of the Anti-Cobbett, or weekly Patriotic Register, appeared on Saturday the 15th instant, the day on which The New Times commenced its career, and it affords a good promise of future efficiency. It contains a pointed exposure of the effrontery and tergiver. sation of Mr. Cobbett. This new journal, therefore, prefers a strong claim, especially at the present crisis, to the patronage of all who are attached to our |