notion, that the degree of heat yearly at the tropics, equalled at least that which happens femi-annually at the equator, he formed a fcale for a thermometer, by which is fhewn, how much the heat of fummer, or the cold of winter, in any other place exceeds, or falls fhort, of that degree of each, which he affigns to England. And this, he aflures us, he had done with fo much exactnefs, that when he came to read Boyle's History of Cold; the account given by the Academy of Sciences, at Paris, of the cold of the northern circle; what Boerhaave relates of the cold of Iceland, and Leyden; Ray's Collection of Travels; and Rollin's Antient Hiftory; none of which he had recourse to for fixing the points of heat and cold in his tables; finding them fo nearly anfwer to what he had previously laid down for the heat and cold of thofe countries, it gave him, he owns, no small fatisfaction: and as we cannot suspect this writer's integrity, what he thus advances, in corroboration of his opinion, feems to us one of the best proofs that can fupport any opinion; a proof from nature and fact.

A Syftem of Divinity and Morality; in a Series of Difcourfes on all the effential parts of Natural and Revealed Religion: Compiled from the works of the following eminent Divines of the church of England, viz. Atterbury, Balguy, Barrow, Bentley, B veridge, Blackhall, Bundy, Burnet, Ben. Calamy, Clagett, Clarke, Dorrington, Gibson, Goodman, Hickman, Hole, Hopkins, Hart, Jackfon, Ibbot, Littleton, Lup ton, Moore, Mofs, Pearfon, Rogers, Sharp, Synge, Stanhope, Stillingfleet, Tillotson, Wake, and Others. To which are added, Some Occafional Difcourfes. The whole revifed and cor rected, by Ferdinando Varner, LL. D. Rector of Queenhithe, London. In four volumes. 8vo. 1 1. bound. Griffiths.

F this Collection, which firft made its appearance in 1750, in five volumes, twelves, we gave fome account in the fourth volume of our Review. Of the prefent edition, little need be added to what Dr. Warner hath himself ob ferved, in his preface; an abstract of which is here fubjoined.

It was thought proper,' fays he, to give a general view of the undertaking; that its ufefulness may be known to those who are unacquainted with it, and who may otherwife confiler it only as a collection of good fermons, with which, in this country, we already greatly abound.

To the honour of our country, and of this prefent age, it must be owned, that we do abound with fuch productions: but then the fermons of our eminent, and most admired, preachers, taking them all together, as they are to be met with in their works, are many of them critical and controverfial, and fo not very useful to families, and people unacquainted with learned fubjects: yet thefe are the people, who seem moft to ftand in need of a clear and judicious explanation of the principles of religion, and on whom the practice of it should be enforced with the moft convincing ⚫ arguments.

The neceffity of this explanation has been much increased by the indefatigable labours of the enemies of our faith; and of those who, tho' they are friends, yet, through igno⚫rance and enthufiafm, have difgraced and wounded it. The advocates of infidelity were formerly men of letters, of birth, of leifure, and of fuperior rank; whofe ill lives would fuit but ill with any religion at all. But the poifon has been fpread with fuch diligence and fuccefs,-that infidelity is now ⚫ become the profeffion of the lowest of our people; of little mechanics, filly women, and of people of all ranks, that are ignorant of letters and reafoning.

Befides thofe which point their weapons against all revealed religion whatfover, there is a fecond fort of enemies aided, tho' undefignedly, by the firft, against whom it behoves us to be on our guard, and who, among the common 'people, are as fuccefsful as the others. Thete are the emiffaries of the church of Rome, who labour inceffantly to ⚫ draw men over to the errors and abfurdities of popery, not only with fpecious arguments, but where it is neceflary, with money, and temptations more alluring than truth and reafon.

To these there must be added another fet, who, tho' profeffed friends to Christianity, yet pervert and difgrace fo much the genuine doctrines of the gofpel, under a pretence of preaching Chrift with more propriety, that they have done infinite mifchief to the religion which they zealously mean to ferve. It is a melancholy thing to obferve so many fo well-difpofed people among our modern methodists, abused with words and phrafes, which either fignify nothing at all, or which have a bad, or at leaft, a doubtful meaning.

The religion of Chrift, as it is in the gofpel, is a fhort and plain inftitution, founded in reafon, obvious to common fonte, and which appeals to the confciences of mankind: • but this is defaced and obfcured by paradoxes, mysteries, Ii 2 ⚫ and

and fenfelefs propofitions, which defeat the very end for which Chrift was fent, or the gofpel publifhed. To preach Christ with them, is not to preach Chriftian morals, how much foever Chrift did it himself; but it is to play off a set of phrases, without ideas, and without connection, in which the word Chrift is always mentioned; and inftead of perfuading to the virtues which he taught by his life and doctrine, to recommend an amorous and enthusiastic sort of devotion, in admiring his personal, excellencies, his grace, ⚫ and fulness.

Amidft the delufions therefore which thus obtain, and are < propagated with fo much zeal, it is a matter of real conC cern, that people of every rank fhould be furnished with a proper remedy to prove, against the firft, that the divine original of the revelation which they deride, is established C upon inconteftible external evidence, and its own intrinsic • excellence and usefulness, and to teach them, against the last, "what in religion is truly good, and what accidentally fo; "what they ought not to be fatisfied without, and what they may innocently not concern themselves with; in a word, what will carry them to heaven fafely, and what answers "no other purpose, than either to furnish matter of dispute for "wrong-headed writers, or to employ the idle hours of de"votees."

A collection of fermons from the ableft divines of the church of England, in the way of a fyftem of doctrinal and practical divinity, it is eafy to fee, would anfwer this purpofe very effectually: and fuch a collection was often wifhed for, and recommended, by fome of the greatest men we have had; as an undertaking that would be extremely useful, ⚫ not only to the younger and inferior clergy, but also to other ferious people, of all ranks and orders.-

Indeed, the importance of the fubjects that are treated of in thefe difcourfes, which explain and recommend the great ⚫ duties leading to the highest good of man, makes it a work of univerfal utility and extent. As the fubjects are of the firft importance in themfelves, fo the difcourfes which illuftrate them, are most of them extracted from the fermons of ⚫ thofe preachers, which, for the purity of their language, the perfpicuity of their expreffion, the elegance of compofition, the ftrength of reafoning, and the juftnefs and dignity of their fentiment, no other country in the Chriftian world can equal.

We may therefore prefume to think, that if this feries of difcourfes is attended to as it fhould be, it may contribute to

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promote the knowlege and practice of Chriftianity in its purity; to ftem the torrent of infidelity, popery, and enthufiafm, which are deluging our country; and to reform the follies, and amend the wickedness of the age. In short, the whole collection, may be faid to be a concife, and at the fame time, a comprehenfive fyftem of natural and revealed religion, never before attempted in this method, and which is very entertaining, as well as extremely useful, for the fa'mily and the clofet.'

At the end of the fourth volume, are added, five occafional difcourfes, in lieu of two, on the beatitudes, by Norris, judiciously ftruck out of the prefent edition, viz. 1. A faft-fermon, preached at Kenfington, by Archbishop Herring. 2. On the 30th of January, before the Lords, by Bifhop Sherlock. 3. On the 29th of May, before the Lords, by Bifhop Secker. 4. On the fire of London, at St. Paul's, by Dr. Warner. On the 5th of November, at St. Paul's, by Mr. King.

WE

Account of Norden's Travels concluded.

5.

E are now come to the second volume, which is written in a different manner from the firft. It is drawn up from the journal kept by the Author, and perhaps differs little from Mr. Norden's firft fketch. We fhall extract fuch parts as are new or entertaining; which is all our Readers are to expect from us. Omitting, therefore, the circumftances of the wind and weather, the little accidents to which all travellers are liable, the names of fuch places as the Author has not thought fit to defcribe, the repetition of what has already been faid of the pyramids of Sakarra, and what is called the falfe pyramid, (for which fee the Review for September) we begin at page 131, where our Traveller arrives at ShechAbade, formerly called Antinoé, the capital of Lower Thebes.

Here are feveral antiquities, conftructed of ftones, about the fize of those whereof the triumphal arches at Rome were built; and not of fuch enormous fize as the old Egyptians ufed in their edifices.

Amongst other ruins are feen three grand portals, the first of which is adorned with columns of the Corinthian order, fluted: the other two are lefs ornamented. These ruins of antient Antinoé, are at the bottom of certain mountains near the Nile. The walls of the houfes were built of brick, and to this day appear as red, as if newly made.

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The mountains of Abuffode are high and steep rocks, that stretch along the Nile. No other mountains give fo evident a proof, according to our Author, of the general deluge; for, from the top, downwards, may be feen the impreffions made by the falling of the waters: which at most can prove no other, than that there has been rain in this country. The echoes formed by fome of these rocks are very diftinct. Near the river are feen a great many grottos, or caverns, where holy Anchorites formerly dwelt, but which are now the habitations of fome Arabian pirates.

The city of Monfalunt, is a kind of capital, and the refidence of a Bifhop of the Copts. On the other fide the Nile, and oppofite to this city, is a convent of Copts, abfolutely inacceffible fo that when any one goes in, or out, he is drawn up, or let down, in a basket, by means of a pulley; from which circumftance it is called the Couvent de la Poulie.

Siuut is another city, that has the appearance of a capital, and is likewife the feat of a Coptic Bishop: the caravan for Sennar fets out from hence. The caverns called Sababinath, hewn in the mountain * Thebet el Kofferi, are worthy notice. The traveller, pursuing the way of the mountain, must afcend for two hours, before he arrives at the firft entrance; which conducts him into a spacious room, fupported by four hexagonal pillars, cut out of the rock. The roof is adorned with painting, which is still very diftinct; and the gold made use of, ftill glitters all around. The floor is at prefent covered with fand and ftones; and the paffages into the other apartments are choaked with ruins. On the out-fide may be feen an apartment over the first large chamber, already defcribed; its dimensions are lefs; it is without pillars, and painted like the other. On each fide of this fecond chamber is a tomb, hewn in the rock; the one open, the other fhut; and both almost buried in the fand. This upper chamber communicates with other apartments; but the paffages are filled with rubbish.

There had formerly been a Califh at Siuut, called El Maafrata; it reached to Senabo, but is now deftroyed. At Gau-fherkie, which fucceeds Diofpolis the Lefs, is an antient temple, about fixty feet in length, and forty deep. It feems as if covered with one entire frone, fupported by columns; and the roof is fo well preferved, that the hieroglyphics, with which it is charged, continue very diftinct. There is nothing elfe remarkable about this temple; for which the

This word fhould be Gebel, or Jebel, which Egnifies a mountain.

Arabs