"Chap. VII. treats of the improvement of the inftitution by Jefus Chrift, who did not alter the fubject or mode, but extended the commiffion to baptife fo as to include the Gentiles of that age, and all mankind, who might become his difciples in future ages. Chap. VIII. fhews that congregations collected by his immediate Apoftles were baptifed by immersion; and that none but believers appear on this occafion; and here ends facred hiftory, without exhibiting any infant, or any sprinkling. 66 'Chap. IX. X. XI. narrate the Eaft ern, Roman, and Mohammedan favourite practice of bathing; and Chap. XII. fhews that the primitive Chriftians erected fimilar buildings for facred bathing, and called them baptifteries, from baptifm, which they practifed by immerfion then. "The next four chapters defcribe feveral baptifteries of the Eaft and Weft Christians, and prove that believers were therein baptifed by immerfion. Chap. XVII. introduces artifts deputing baptifm, and unwarily obfcuring what they meant to elucidate. Chap. XVIII. treats of fonts, natural and artificial; and thews that a confufion of names in troduced a confufion of things; by which means the original practice of baptifm became more corrupted. "The baptifm of infants, that is, of minors, fo called in general, follows; and here it is obfervable that the equivocalnefs of words went to add to the corruption of baptifm. "The next chapter fhews that weak fondness of parents, and the enthusiasm of the monks, helped yet more to corrupt baptifin, by transferring to, babes an inftitute proper only for men.Chap. XXII. and XXIII. thew that Africa, the leaft enlightened part of the world, cherished the baptifm of babes; and that Auguftice, a pretended faint, but an illiterate hypocrite, of wicked difpofitions, brought it to perfection there in the 5th century; but the novel practice had no extent or duration worth mentioning. "Chap. XXIV. fhews how the Eafterns depraved the inftitute, and brought it down gradually to children. “Chap. XXV. examines a pretended canon of fome poor African monks, who, to fupply their wants, imported African baptifm into Spain, in the 6th century. Chap. XXVI. fhews how the Emperor Charlemagne impofed on the Saxons a law for infant baptifm, to ferve the political purpose of enflaving them and others, and how other defpots copied his example, and turned the inflitute of Chrift into an engine of flate.Chap. XXVII. accounts for the extenfive progrefs of infant baptifm by thewing how well it fuited the interest of various claffes of men, and the very corrupt manners of those ignorant, enflaved, and barbarous times. in "Next follows an account of the feveral confequences of making baptifm necellary to babes, and fo brings on the laft ftage of the corruption of it, by baptifing infants unborn, who could not be immerfed, but might by art be wetted; and fo the priests found themselves obliged to affirm, that moistening a part was equal to bathing the whole. Baptifm had been practifed many ages, divers countries, by all forts of men; and it had been connected with a great variety of other practices. Thefe connexions are treated of in chap. XXXI. and XXXII.; and they all imply that the inftitute had been made very free with, to ferve fecular interefts, by men who had not regulated Religion by its only fandard, the Holy Scriptures; and that even thefe abufes tell the original form. "Chap. XXXIII. traces the hiftory of afperfion, and fhews that the monks introduced from Pagan rites the practice of sprinkling holy water, which, in the end, was mistaken for Chriftian baptifm. "Chap. XXXIV. treats of the real practice of primitive baptifm; which, in fome countries truly, and in others falfely, is called Anabaptism; and the three following chapters narrate the prefent fate of baptifm in various churches, Eaftern, Wellern, Greek, Roman, reformed and renovated by the original pattern. "Having narrated the feveral fates of this divine inftitute, the fubject clofes with an attempt to thew the true ground on which religion in juftice ought to reft; and as baprifin is a politive inftitute, both commanded and exemplified, a lift is given of all the fill churches in which there does not appear any fprinkling, or fo much as one intant; whence the conclufion is, that infant baptifm is not of divine appointment, and that Chriftianity is not, in this inftitute, openly or covertly inimical to the birthrights of mankind; on the contrary, by requiring personal knowledge and vir tue, it is the belt friend of a good fystem of 1028 Review of New Publications. of civil government, and deferves well of all mankind. It removes ignorance, the bane of virtue; and, by educating the world, teaches mankind at once to be rational and religious, fit members of civil fociety, and meet to be partakers of an inheritance with the faints in light." The work is written with much clearness and erudition, and enlivened with animated narratives, in ftrong colouring, though oftentimes rather too epifodic, and with fome peculiarity of ftyle, but lefs warmth than fome other pieces of this author. It is illuftrated with eleven beautiful engravings of the modes of adminiftering baptifm, copied from different authors. Mr. R. fhews himself master of his subject, and to have profited by the academical libraries. Among fome of his fingular and novel opinions may be reckoned this, p. 24, that the fish that fwallowed Jonas was a fubterranean river, into which a great fwell of water carried him, and brought him back. [Noy. "munity, invade the offices, and con- Speaking of the Church founded by Quintilla, who gave themfelves the name of "Artotyrites, i, e. bread and "cheese eaters," he fays, " Monsters! "exclaim the ferious Catholics, do ye "offer bread and cheese in facrifice to your Gods? Epiphanius, who wrote "" a hiftory of what he did not know, as "well as of what he did, gave these good ladies a place in his Lift of He"reticks; and though he fays he did 66 not know their hiftory, yet he pre"tends to tell even their dreams, which probably they never told, except jocu "larly, in their dreffing-rooms, where "writers of folios feldom come, espe "cially fuch as Epiphanius, who wrote "flander in folio." p. 171. "How thofe called Saints and Bi"hops in Africa expounded Scripture "The truth is," fays Mr. R. p. 155, "minor baptifm began with young gen"tlemen under age at the Alexandrian "academy, and, in after times, gradu"ally defcended to boys of feven years "of age, where it obtained many cen"turies, and at length it fettled on "babes of a few days old; but this is "only to be understood of Catholic hierarchies, for it does not appear "that thofe Chriftians whom the do"mineer ng parties called Hereticks "made any fuch alteration in baptifm." "It is not the mode but the fubje&,"would be a mifery to fay in detail; "whether a natural infant or a minor "that rifes to view. The introduction "of infants into the Chriftian church is "fuch a fingular innovation, that it hath "attracted the eyes of many in Africa to py out the caufe Baptifm is a "ceremony. Ceremonies are founded, "not on moral but pofitive law. There "is no law to baptife infants in either "Teftament; fo that there is not even "the pretence of Judaism to give a fha"dow of fan&tion to fuch a practice.. "Infants are mere machines, and utterly "incapable of every thing relative to "baptifm. It fubverts the very bate of "the Chriftian Church, by giving those "the name who have not the thing, and "by transferring the whole of Chriftia"nity from the wife and plous few to "the ignorant and wicked multitude, "who, being fuppofed Chrifians, in"terfere in religion, derange the com 66 "but, without picking paffages, and to "take the nearest books at hand, and "juft as they open, the following three "fpecimens will give a juft though "faint idea. The firft is one of the "African bifhops, Optatus of Mela, "and it exhibits their manner of de"bafing morality under pretence of re"fining it. The fecond is a Roman "Paulinus, and he treats of Jewish "biflory This amiable man did not " value hinfelf, nor did the Saints va"lue him, for acquitting himself juftly "and mildly in his confulthip, and for "not hedding blood, but for his ipin"tuality and depth in the things of "God; i. e. for finding out that Titus, one of the most just and moderate of Pagan governors, the delight of his contemporaries, was a favage the "bear, the effence of brutality, be"fmeared with human blood. The ** third "third is a Greek expofition of a pro"phecy by Bifhop Terebinthius." pp. 198, 190. We refer for the fpecimens to the work itself. Africa, and its corrupt Chriftianity, are the writer's great butt; and he thinks it no improbable conjecture, that Fidus, one of the bishops there, bethought himself of baptifing new-born infants, as an expedient to fave the lives of the lambs of his flock, p. 193.—On Auguftine he is peculiarly fevere; and on the fraud and force ufed to introduce the baptifm of babes by him (p. 202), in a council whofe very name is scarcely afcertained, and whofe acts, as well as the church itself, were diffolved by the Vandals, A. D. 429. We have not room for his account of this African father's life; but cannot help obferving a marked partiality in Mr. R's defence of the opinions of the feveral hereticks, or, as he calls them, Diffenters, of whom our countryman, Pelagius, alone drove Auguftine half mad. When Mr. R, however, oblerves, that "the hiftory of "Pelagius is a fatire on uniformity of "faith," p. 209, does he not forget how much St. Paul infits on the unity of one faith, in his Epifle to the Ephefans, iv. 5, 13, confidering the Christian difpenfation as calculated to produce this bleffed effect? "filver, gold, ivory, antiquities, both "of the Greek and Roman churches, "on this fubje&t, enrich the invaluable "Chriftian museum of this pontiff *. "It is in fuch collections as thefe, and "not in garret effays on Greek prepofi❝tions, that the hiftory of baptifm is to "be ftudied. Some of thefe come alone, "before records; others come in com66 pany with teftaments and deeds, and "afford a fort of comment on the text. "Laft of all come deeds alone, to be "expounded, however, by the customs "that occafioned them." p. 361. Among the circumftances with which baptifm was connected are reckoned Monachiim, Social Obligation, Human Creeds, Judaifm, Chivalry, Sacerdotal Habits, and even Witchcraft; on which laft head a deal of ridiculous matter is brought forward. To conclude: Mr. R, p. 479, defines a baptift church by Mr. Locke's idea of a church fimply confidered, in his Letters on Toleration, letter 1. pp. 37, 38, 49, edit. 1765; and, p. 484. cenfures Voltaire for confidering the Anabaptists as savages, who made no figure in the world. 181. Legendary Fragments. The Bedefman on Nyd-fyde. AN imitation of the antient legendary ftyle, in the dialect ufed on the North fide of the Tweed; but with nothing new to recommend it. Mr. R. has waded through the ocean of ecclefiaftical antiquity, and traced the change of infant into minor baptifm, or that of catechumens, capable of 182. The Book of Nature: a Sermon, preached profeffing their faith. "Baptifm rofe pure in the Eaft; it rolled Weftward, "diminished in luftre, often beclouded ❝ with mifs, and fometimes under a "total eclipfe: at length it efcaped the eye, and was loft among attenuated "particles, fhades, non entities, and "monfters: then it took a contrary direction, and, probably, in time, it "will emerge from every depreffion, "and fhine in its original fimplicity "and excellence." p. 343. "His Holinefs the late Pope Bene"dict XIV. was a man of extentive "learning and elegant tafte. Had not "the pontifical tiara eclipfed every "other honour, he would have been "celebrated as an antiquary. His ca"binet contains a great collection of "antiques relative to John the Baptift, "and himfelf was an exquifite judge "of the authenticity of each, and the "value of all, to church-history. Cups, patens, vafes, feals, infcriptions, trip"tychs, habits, altars, precious tones, in a Country Parish. ORIGINALLY intended for the reading only of thofe to whom it was preached, and now published for the benefit of a Sunday- fchool. It is a brief abstract of Ray's Wifiom of God in the Creation, or Derham's Physico-Theology; books now too little attended to. 183. Sermons; now first printed from the original Manuscripts of John Wallis, D.D. fome Time Savilian Profeffer of Geometry in be Univerfity of Oxford, Keeper of the Archives, Member of the Royal Society, and Chaplain in Ordinary to King Charles 11. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of the Author, with fome original inecdotes; and a Recommendatory Introduction, bythe Rev. C. E. De Coetlogon, M. A. 8vo. the intention of publishing thefe ferWE announced, vol. LVIII. p. 286, grandfon, to whom we are much indebtmons, by the Doctor's lineal greated for the communication of his ancef * Pacciaudi, Antiq. Christian. Diff. VI. c. 5. tor's 1030 Review of New Publications. tor's papers and memoirs, from whence we made the extracts (ibid. pp. 380,479, 576, 759*, 760, 851; LIX. 3, 113, 293.) A portrait of this excellent man, who thought and spoke with fo much candour of the Diffenters, was drawn and engraved by Cipriani, at the expence of the late Thomas Hollis, Efq. for 750 copies of a fplendid edition of Dr. W's Latin Grammar of the English Language, printed by Mr. Bowyer, 100 copies of which were purchased by Mr. H. as prefents to the Literati of Spain, Portugal, Italy, &c.; and 20 guineas were given by him as a prefent to Mr. B. for writing the fhort Latin preface: yet, when application was made to the reprefentative of that public-fpirited patriot, for the ufe of his friend and benefactor's plate to a diftreffed defcendant of Dr. Wallis, to prefix to the prefent volume, it was refufed, left it should wear out the plate. Thefe Sermons are dedicated to John Blencowe, Efq. of the Inner Temple, a branch of the venerable ftock from which the Doctor iffued, by William Wallis, the editor. The volume commences with a fhort Introduction, by the Rev. C. E. De Coetlogon, M. A.; the object of which is, to intimate his entire approbation of thefe difcourfes, after carefully examining them. This we should hardly have thought neceffary, prefuming that the name of WALLIS would of itfelf have been fufficient. Mr. De Coetlogon, however, thus characterises the fermons : that the doctrines contained in them "are the doctrines of the Reformation"of the Church of England-and, which is more than all, of the Sacred Scrip"tures, I apprehend, it is abfurd and ignorant to deny. Of their ftyle, we "have only to fay, in their favour, that they have at leaft the excellence of "plainnefs and fimplicity. They con"tain a comprehenfive view of every "thing that relates to the Faith, the "Hope, and the Practice, of the Chrif "tian Religion." The Introduction is followed by Memoirs of the Life of Wailis, more minute and particular than have yet appeared, the authenticity of which cannot be difputed, and which were communicated by him to Dr. Thomas Smith, of Magdalen College, Oxford, and printed, with fome little variation, in Hearne's edition of P. Langtoft's Chronicle (vol. I. Pref. Anecdotes of Mr. Bowyer, pp. 361, 362. [Nov. p. cxl-clxx), but continued, with fuller particulars of his decyphering ta lent, and its difproportionate rewards, which were, from our Court fifty pounds, and from the Elector of Brandenburgh, afterwards King of Prussia, a gold medal and chain, of 16 ounces 12 penny. weights, which his defcendant was forced to difpofe of as old gold, after having offered it first for fale to the Oxford and British Museums, and feveral antiquaries; but having moft difintereftedly declined letting his fecret go out of the kingdom, King William fettled on him a penfion of 100l. per annum, with furvivorship to Mr. William Blencowe, fon of his daughter, by Mr. Juftice Blencowe. His own fon, John, who was a barrifter, was alfo acquainted with his method, having affifted him in it.-As the Doctor had always paid a particular attention to grammar, he undertook to teach fome dumb persons, and others who had impediments in their fpeech, to fpeak, and fucceeded. He publifhed his method in the Philofopbical Transactions, 1666. A catalogue of his mathematical and other works follows this account. Hitherto his time was principally taken up in academical ftudies; but from 1682 to 1692 (in which year he declined the deanry of Hereford) the Doctor published thirteen fingle fermons, and feems to have been engaged in feveral theological difputes; particularly that of the Trinity, of which he appears to have been a ftaunch defender, holding it to be both possible and true. And many readers will be pratified by finding at length this ce lebrated illuftration of the Triniy, by a cubicai bedy (as reprefented in the diagram annexed); which, though it exhi bits three dif A F D E C B tinct dimensions of height, length, and breadto, forms but one cube. We are bound in candour to acknowledge that to this illat ration objections have been made, which, on the prefent occafion, we are not inclined to explain or refute; but the idea is certainly ingenious, and muft have great weight with many. He " appears to have been Ready and "inflexible (cven to the laft) in bis re"gious principies, which were Calvi nittical, according to the literal jenje "of the Church of England, of which "he was a found member, yet by no means a bigot, as will evidently appear by the following letter, written "to a friend, wherein the Doctor en "deavours to remove fome prejudice "which his friend feems to have con"ceived against a particular clafs of "Diffenters: "For Mr. GEORGE KEITH. "Oxford, June 3, 1700. "I thank you for thofe fermons of yours you was pleafed to fend me; which I received by the hands of a very good friend; and which I have read with great approbation. I hope and pray, that the good pains you have taken, for fome years past, in difcovering the errors of the common Quakers, and instructing others formerly feduced by them, and your good example in embracing 'the communion of the Church of England, may be of good ufe (through God's blefling) for opening the eyes of fome others who are yet blinded. "What you alledge, in justification of your joining in communion with the Church of England, is a great deal, and is faid with very good reafon. Yet I think more might be faid, which you either omit, or do but fparingly infinuate. For if those whom you feem to reckon as Diffenters, if I do not mifunderstand you, the much the greater part, and the most judicious, however, as to fome partitulars, they may be unfatisfied, yet they do not difclaim communion with the Church of England. They come to our churches; they hear our fermons; they join occafionally in our common prayers; they are orthodox in doctrine; they do not renounce our baptifm; they do not diclaim our communion at the Lord's table. If fome of them, called Prefbyterians, do not think Bifhops fo neceffary but that they may be fpared where they cannot conveniently be had, yet few of them think all Epifcopacy unlawful, but can live quietly under that of the Church of England, and can admit of as much difference between Prefbyter and Bishops as we do between BiShop and Archbishop, or Patriarch; which, though we look upon as different dignities (from that of a Bishop), yet not as different orders, and therefore not to need a new confecration. If they chufe to hear, in private meetings, fome godly minifters (who, perhaps, are not fo well qualified as to be permitted the public exercife of their miniftry in a parochial congregation), yet they do not difclaim our minifters as not lawful minifters of the word of God. If they think the crofs in baptifm, or kneeling at the Lord's fupper, or the ufe of a furplice, were better omitted (and therefore cannot fully approve the impofing of them), yet they do not think that the fe vitiate the fervice. If they do not think it convenient to be confined to our form of common prayer, or think that, in fome particulars, it might be altered for the better, yet they do not think all forms unlawful, or ours fo vicious as not to be used. If they would rather chufe (where it may be had) to have a child baptifed without the cross, or to receive the facrament without kneeling, we are not thence to conclude Church. We well know that there are many them Diffenters from the communion of our Reformed Churches abroad, whofe forms are not just the fame with ours, but are not, therefore, to be thought to difclaim communion with our Church on that account, or we with them. If their minifters, though they hear ours, do not publicly preach in our churches, it is not because they think it unlawful, but because they are not permitted fo to do, unless they will first declare their unfeigned affent and confent to all and every thing contained and prefcribed in and by the Book of Common Prayer. So that, in fact, they are not fo much Diffenters from communion with the Church of England as from that claufe in the Act of Parliament which requires that declaration; for many, who heartily join with our Church, may poffibly fee, or think they fee, fome mistakes in fo large a book, with which mistakes they cannot well comply. And if this claufe were removed, perhaps, as to the reft, we thould not have fo many Diffenters." but had a fuitable influence on his His religion did not confift in theory, and not eafily ruffled; and he enjoyed temper, which was fweet and amiable, the happiness of the connubial ftate 42 years. His wife died at Oxford, March 17, 1686; and himself Oct. 28, 1703, aged 87, and was buried in the chancel of St. Mary's church there. He left ifsue John, a barrifter, who, by marriage, obtained a fair eftate at Sondels, near Nettlebed; Anne, married to John Blencowe, a baron of the Exchequer; and Elizabeth to William Benson, Efq. of Towcester. Of the prefent publication the editor gives this account: "The following fermons are faithfully printed from the original manufcripts of the beforementioned great and good man, which were found among fome old family papers; and, as I thought them too good to be buried in oblivion, I fet about tranfcribing them for my own private ufe, without the moit diftant idea of printing them; but, upon fhewing them to fome ingenious friends (as it does not appear they ever were before in print), I was at length prevailed upon to publish them, as being the valuble relicks (and as a tribute due to the memory) of to great a man. If it should be afked, how is it that thefe fermons thould have lain dormant for upwards of a century, and not have found their |