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In the ftatement of the trials, which next fucceeds, the whole weight of the acquittals is refted on the jury, the profecution having been carried on, on the part of the Crown, with every poffible enforcement from the bench and bar. Of eleven perfons indicted, feven were quitted; and of the four who were found guilty, only two were executed.

Follow next Addreffes to the King from the Town and the Diffenters of Birmingham. Two letters from Mr. Keir, chairman of the meeting, with a lift of the toafts, a little different from thofe published by Mr. Ruffell; which difference is properly explained. Mr. K. is a cool, difpafiionate man, who

mingham, and his acquaintance with the minifters and leading members of the church, a ftriking variety in the mode of Chriftian faith, and the good fenfe and good conduct of its profeffors, drew the Doctor's attention in a particular manner.

The fruit of this attention were thefe letters, which were to have been read to the minifter and heads of the New Jerufalem Church on July 15 laft: but the night before this, "the zealots of "the Church of England, when I had "no fufpicion of any outrage of the « kind, demolished my houfe, library, "apparatus, and every thing they could "lay hold of belonging to me, and. would, I now believe, have destroyed. myfelf, if they could have got me in "their power." And this leads the Doctor to bewail and refent his lofs, as the effect of a difference in politicks and religion" from perfons who do not. want private virtue, perfons of honour, justice, and feeling, in common. "life, and who, if I had not been ob"noxious to them on account of my "opinions, would have relieved me in. "diftrefs, and have done me any kind"nefs in their power; nay, who, if "they had had any knowledge of lite

rature or science, might perhaps have " been proud of having me for a towns"man and acquaintance, and have "taken pleasure in fhewing ftrangers "the place where I lived. Had I been ❝ a clergyman of the Church of Eng "land, of little or no reputation, and "the injury been done by Diffenters, "no punishment would have been "thought fufficient for the perpetrators "of fo much wickednefs: in the eyes "of the nation, the whole fect would "have been thought deferving of ex"tirpation. Like the death of Charles I. "the guilt of it would have been entail. "ed upon the lateft pofterity."

If the Doctor feels no fhame, no compunction, for thus widening the breaches which his opinions have unclofed, we can affure him many of his friends and party begin to feel them very feriously for him. But, as he deems it an indifpenfable duty incumbent on him to diffufe his own opinions, he feems to think the obligation equally ftrong to combat thofe of others, though deititute of all rational evidence as "thofe of Baron Swedenborg" Of this medley of uncharitablencis and abfurdity (the only rational fenoment he

GENT. MAG. Supplement, 1791.

unity) he has given the following abs
can find
among which is the divine
tract. See alfo the Appendix, p. 66.

"Holding thefe rational fentiments, I can,
not help expreffing some furprize, that you
fhould be fo uncharitable as you are, admit-
ting into heaven none but those who think
as you do with respect to the person of,
in his Doctrine concerning the Lord, p. 230,
Chrift.
can be admitted into heaven who thinks of
No one,' fays Mr. Swedenborg,
'there being thre Gods, howsoever he may.
"fay with his lips there is but one. For the
'life of the whole heaven, and all the wif
ledgement, and confequent confeffion, of
'dom of angels, is founded on the acknow-
one God, and on the faith that this one God.
is alfo man, and that he is the Lord who is
at once both God and man.' In his Uni

verfal Theol gy, vol. II. p. 424, he expreffly fays, concerning the Socinians, that they are

caft down into hell, fince they approach, "God the Father alone.' The fame he afferts of the Arians, for denying the divinity of the. Lord's humanity.'

Mr. Swedenborg, there is, I fear, no proípect "As you admit the divine illumination of of your becoming more charitable. For if you suppose him to have been in an error in fome things, efpecially thofe which he faw and learned in the fpiritual world, you may think him liable to mistake in any things. and then the whole foundation of your new church fails. I with, therefore, to reason with you on this foundation of your faith. But I must first defcribe what appears to me to be the general outline of it, that we may confider the scheme in its whole extent, and it requires. thereby form fome judgement of the evidence

maintain that this one God is no other than
"Holding the doctrine of one God, you
Jefus Chrift, and that he always existed in a
human form; that for the fake of redeeming
the world, he took upon himself a proper
human or material body, but not a human
foul; that this redemption confists in bring
ing the hells, or evil fpirits, into fubjection,
and the heavens, into.order and regulation,
and thereby prreparing the way for a new
fpiritu a church; that without fuch redemp-
tion no man could be faved, nor could the an
gels retain their state of integrity; that their
temptations, or conflicts with evil fpirits;
redemption was effected by means of trials,
glorified his humanity, perfecting the union
and that the last of them, by which Chrift
panion of the cross.
of his divine with his human nature, was the

one God, and one divine perfon, you hold
"Though you maintain that there is but
that in this perfon there is a real trinity, con-
fifting of the divinity, the bumanity, and the
operation of them both in the Lord Jeius,, a
trinity which did not exift from all eternity,

but commenced at the incarnation.

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Review of New Publications.

"You believe that the Scriptures are to be interpreted not only in a literal but in a fpiritual fenfe, not known to the world till it was revealed to Mr. Swedenborg; and that this spiritual sense extends to every part of Scripture *.

"You believe that there are angels attend ing upon men, refiding, as Mr. Swedenborg fays, in their affections; that temptation confifts in a struggle between good and bad angels within men, and that by this means God alfifts men in these temptations, fince of themfelves they could do nothing. Indeed, Mr. Swedenborg maintains that there is an univerfal influx from God into the fouls of men, infpiring them especially with the belief of the divine unity. This efflux of divine light on the fpiritual world he compares to the efflux of the light from the fun in the natural world.

"There are, fays Mr. Swedenborg, two worlds, the natural and the fpiritual, entirely diftinct, though perfectly correfponding to each other; that at death a man enters into the fpiritual world, when his foul is cloathed, with a body, which he terms fubftantial, in oppofition to the prefent material body, which he fays is never to rife out of the 'After death,' he fays, that a man grave. is fo little changed, that he even does not know but he is living in the present world; that he eats and drinks, and even enjoys conjugal delight, as in this world; that the refemblance between the two worlds is fo great, that in the fpiritual • world there are cities, with palaces, and ⚫houses, and alfo writings and books, cmployments and merchandizes; that there is gold, filver, and precious ftones there. In a word,' he fays, there is in the fpiritual world all and every thing that there is in "the natural world; but that in heaven fuch things are in an infinitely more perfect state. Univerfal Theology, N° 734. Into this fpiritual world, Mr. Swedenborg fays, that he, though living in this, was admitted; fo that he converfed with Luther, Melanethon, and many other perfons, as well as with angels.

"You believe that the coming of Chrift to judge the world, and to enter upon his kingdom, is not to be understood of a perfonal defcent from heaven into this material world, but that they relate to the spiritual world only. That the laft judgment took place in the year 1757, and that the fpiritual kingdom of Chrift, by which you understand the rife and spread of your new doctrine,

"Mr. Swedenborg, however, accepts the A&s of the Apostles, and the Apoftolic Epiftles, though for reasons that do not appear fatisfactory to me, fince, to all appear ance, they are as capable of fecondary fenfes as the books of Kings and Chronicles in the Old Teftament. See this difcuffed in the New Magazine of Knowledge concerning Heaven and Hell, vol. I. p. 254."

[Suppl.

commenced on the 19th day of June, 1770. This kingdom of Chrift, and confequently your doctrine, you believe, is fpeedily to prevail over the whole world, and to continue for ever."

By the time the Doctor has got to his 51ft page, he fays, "Indeed, Gen"tlemen, it is impoffible to confider your opinions on ferious fubjects with amufement will not be wholly incon"perfect ferioufnefs." He "hopes that fiftent with inftruction;" and he begins to laugh himfelf, and makes his readers laugh, at the ridiculous dreams of Mr. Swedenborg, about "the uni"verfal heaven refembling one man, "therefore called by him the grand "man, conftituted of fpirits from leve"ral earths," and his confufion of beings with space, as if they were the fame thing.

The Doctor declines to accufe the Baron, but "cannot help faying, that

"his accounts of what he faw and "heard in the fpiritual world are fo co"pious and particular, that it is barely "poffible that the whole should have "paffed fo diftin&ly in his imagination, "either in dreams or reveries, and that "they read very much like inventions, "and fictions. At leaf, though fome, "thing may have paffed in his imagi

nation, it must have been helped out "and improved at his leifure after"wards; and it is no uncommon thing, to find this mixture of enthusiasm and been ever fo honeft and good a man, impofture." p. 60." Let him have "fo that he should have really thought "him commiffioned to write every. thing that he has done, there is fuffi "cient evidence that it was not the “ spirit of truth that dictated his write ings. Should any being, in the com.

plete form of an angel, tell me, that "God had the form of a man; that this "God was Jefus Chrift; that he was "not to return to this world, to raile "the dead, and judge all mankind; that "there are marriages in heaven, &c. "&c.; I fhould tell him that he was a

lying fpirit, and that what he told me "Could not be true, becaufe both Rea"fon and the Scriptures, much better "authorities than an angel, told me the "contrary." p. 61 He concludes with entreating his followers to re-examine and re-confider these things; and, above all things, to cherish greater charity. "In charity," fays he, "at least, we "have a manifeft advantage over you, "Though I do not pretend to any fupernatural influx from the fun® of

your fpiritual world, I am confcious “that I write these letters from the "Spirit of love; and I hope you will perceive that they likewife proceed "From a found mind.” p. 65.

We incline to think that the generality of readers will think the Doctor has fet his wit against a sect not worthy his notice to ferve his own purposes. If we believe James Lackington, the Swedenborgians will increase on the ruins of Methodifm.

250. Thoughts on the Riots at Birmingham.

By a Welfh Freebolder,

THIS Welsh freeholder, who has thrown as much dirt as he could collect on his diocefan*, has here undertaken a laboured vindication of the Diffenters from being acceffary to the riots at Bir. mingham. Among the ufual arguments he offers this new one: "The grand "object they aim at is a free and un"corrupt Parliament, that would fpeak "the fenfe of the Nation." This may be one object; but Dr. Priefley's letter to Mr. Pitt will hew how many more they have befide. "Whether their "views and apprehenfions are just or "erroneous, to profefs them is neither "morally nor politically wrong, as it is "not defired by thofe who avow them

that they fhould be adopted by any "till it is demonftrated that they are "well founded, or that any measures "fhould be taken in confequence of "them, but what fhall feem right to "the great body of the people. To this tribunal they with the affair to be "fubmitted, and will peaceably and chearfully acquiefce in the exifting "ftate of things till it comes to a fair "decifion." This is modeft -compared with the affociations and publica

tions, and even menaces, that have been held out by the leaders of the party. But the defign of this is to prove that the Diffenters are not in a flate of deSpendency and dejection.

66

It were to be withed," fays this Welsh freeholder, that thofe who "have entered the lifts against Dr. "Priestley's theological and political writings had refembled more, in their behaviour, the conduct of their phi"lofophical adverfary." The French philofophers who oppofe him would not have deftroyed his elaboratory and apparatus. Would the Doctor really have trufted his perfon and apparatus to a

* See the Welsh freeholder's Letter to the Bishop of St. David's, and his Vindication of bi Letter.

French mob rather than an English one? or is he ambitious of having his head reek from a pole in the streets of Paris, and difappointed that he was not torn limb from limb in thofe of Birmingham? When the mob mark out the victims of their vengeance, in any country, no philofophers can effect a refcue. The very laft publication of the Royal Society will thew how the Doctor veers in his philofophical fenti. ments; and who fhall infure him from unfaying all he fo warmly contends for in the other departments? But if his opinions in these are controverted, they furnish a good opportunity to befpatter and abufe a larger and more powerful order of men, and even our rulers themselves; and the prejudices of the mob may be turned against them as well as against a few individuals who are never tired of broaching and affert ing novelties. The cant of liberty reftored to 25 millions is now become fuch a very bore, that it is time the tide of novelty and fashion should turn.

251. A Correspondence between the Rev. Robert Wills, M. A. Chaplain to the Earl of Dunmore, and a Gentleman under the Signature of Publicola, relative to the Riots at Birmingham, and the Commemoration of the French Revolution.

nicle, foon after the riots; and "as the FIRST published in The Bath Cbra"fubject is of a public and interesting "nature, it has been thought advisea"ble to collect and.reprint them in the "prefent shape." The first letter of Publicola to Mr. W. confifts chiefly of grammatical quibbles, and a defence of Revolution clubs, who, he fays, have published no hand-bills. But have they, or other fimilar clubs, published nothing

at all at all? But come, Mr. "Whittol, don't let us be vulgar, and "talk of our poor relations." While every day's experience brings fresh evi dence that the new Conftitution of France cannot fupport itself, let us cease to be fo proud of the liberty of 25 millions of men, who are only like so many cattle turned loose on a common, without leaders. How can the Dif fenters abet the Bartholomew act, now on the point of paffing in France? "The first principles on which thefe "proceedings are grounded being bad

and unprecedented, we cannot ap prove these proceedings in detail" any more than Mr. W, who, though not the correcteft of writers, holds the better opinion of the two.

252. A

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