confirming his mission there, and in all Judea, with signs and wonders. The purport of the whole passage I am persuaded is this: St. Peter begins his first preaching to the Gentiles, as John does his Gospel, with establishing the Divine authority of the Logos, and then proceeds to maintain the universality of redemption wrought by him. "The Word,” saith he, "whom God sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, when he published through Jesus Christ the glad tidings of peace on earth, good will unto men, is Lord of all, Gentiles no less than Jews, that is, the Word is Lord of all." He then proceeds, "Ye all know the fact, the appearance of Jesus after the baptism of John, the wonders that he wrought, his death and resurrection, of the particulars of which, we the apostles, who from the first were AUTOTai xai Uπngstai т8 λ078, Luke 1. 2. are witnesses, and we are commanded to preach him, to testify according to the, Prophets, that whosoever believeth in him, without any difference of Jew or Gentile (Acts xv, 9) should receive remission of sins." This is the doctrine which Peter then taught, and the truth of it was evinced in the Holy Ghost falling upon all, without distinction, who heard.

An argument for the Divinity of Christ may be fetched also from a passage of St. Paul, where our version, though not erroneous, is yet inaccurate; I mean from the 15th chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, the 12th and 18th verses: "There shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles, in him shall the Gentiles. trust." It ought to be, "in him shall the Gentiles hope," agreeable to the Greek ελπιεσι. This it is more necessary to remark, on account of what follows in the next verse, which is connected with this by the particle d. May the God of hope, in the Greek Tidos. "The God of hope," says Le Clerc in his Ars Critica, "is the God in whom ye hope:" and the article before midos denotes, according to Apollonius," a pre-established acquaintance, its peculiar character being a reference." Tns sides, then, in this verse refers us to me in the preceding. The hope in the two is the same; the object is the same. In other words, He that should rise from the root of Jesse in the 12th verse, in whom the Gentiles should hope, is the God of their hope in the 13th; and who is this but Jesus Christ?

I am, Sir,

INCREASE OF METHODISM.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCHMAN'S

MAGAZINE.

SIR,

SING

INCE I have been absent from home, I have had some opportunity of observing the progress of those sectarian principles, which it is the commendable purpose of your useful publication to oppose. In the large manufacturing towns of Sheffield and Wakefield the most elegant structures appropriated to divine worship, are those erected for the express purpose of propagating the tenets of Methodism; and I may add, they are likewise more numerously attended, in the proportion almost of three to one. From hence we may fairly deduce the two following conclusions: that, in the two places mentioned above, the professors of these principles are rapidly increasing; and that we have good reason to conclude the cause of this increase is to be attributed to the palatable doctrines which they preach, and the zeal and unwearied diligence of those who are appointed to disseminate them.

Whoever will take the trouble of attending our churches, and afterwards, for the sake of making the com-. parison, as I have done, will attend these nocturnal conventicles of schism and enthusiasm, will be instantly convinced of the different congregations in point of numbers which are brought together in these respective places of worship; and will scarcely think that the account is exaggerated when it is stated as above, that the former are exceeded by the latter in the proportion abovementioned. Surely there must be some extraordinary reason for this great disproportion. To men who are wedded to sinful and alluring pleasures, and who are determined to gratify every irregular passion of our fallen nature, no doctrine can be more acceptable than that which represents FAITH as the whole of a Christian's duty, and GOOD WORKS as of no avail in ensuring to us the glorious and blessed hopes of our Lord's religion: and which, while it assures

those

those who enlist themselves in the number of its members that they are ELECTED and PREDESTINED to eternal life, by a decree which no act of their's can subvert or destroy; assures them also that this is the only and true doctrine of the blessed Jesus, who came down from Heaven to reveal the will of God to mankind. This palatable doctrine, so pleasing to the corruption of our fallen nature, has made immense number of proselytes within the last few years; and the zeal of its members in propagating the same is very remarkable. Whilst they "compass sea and land to make one proselyte," I fear, Mr. Editor, a degree of supineness is often found in the members of the establishment, which, unless it be corrected speedily, may be attended with fatal effects. Would to God, Sir, that any thing in my power to advance could have the effect of kindling that spark of zeal for the cause of Orthodoxy which has hitherto glowed in my bosom, and, I trust, will continue so to do while life remains!!! Alas! Sir, I feel for the cause of true religion, and of the principles of the Church of England, sensations which language can very inadequately describe. I see a whole deluge of infidel and licentious principles about to overwhelm us, and, unless the true and genuine sons of the Church of England rally unanimously round her standard; boldly stand in the breach which is about to be made; be as zealous in her support as her numerous and powerful enemies are to destroy her mark my words, Mr. Editor, I beseech you -the goodly fabric of the Established Church, the purest and the most perfect of any this day existing on the face of the earth, will ere long be totally subverted, and will fall to rise no more!! To prevent this, Mr. Editor, I would advise a communication to be established between the distant members of our Church in different parts of the kingdom; the machinations of the enemy to be clearly laid open; and suitable remedies applied. I would have the falsity and danger of the sectarian principles exposed to the world, and the truth, purity, and advantage of orthodox tenets as widely made known. I would have every man, at least every Minister of the Established Church, ready at his post; active in his duty; and prepared to defend the religion he professes at every hazard. Then we may hope that the danger by which we are surrounded may be warded off from us-that the seductive and fascinating principles of our modern enthusiasts may be exposed

to

to the just degree of contempt which they deserve and that the doctrines and principles of the Church of England may be thoroughly comprehended, faithfully. practised, and shine with unobscured lustre and glory to the remotest annals of time.

Mr. Editor, my zeal in the cause ef the established religion, which you have espoused, flows sincerely and most disinterestedly from the heart. I am your constant correspondent, though I have heretofore adopted many other signatures; and I most sincerely wish prosperity to the religion we both profess; and that all the different members of it may see its danger with the same alarm as myself. May your publication be wide and amply extended throughout the kingdom, and may all our enemies be subdued before us.

Necessity, Sir, and not inclination, have caused me for some months past to be a wanderer; but wherever I am, the interests and well-being of the establishment in these kingdoms will be ever very near my heart. I hope ere any very distant period is elapsed I may once more have a fixed place of abode ; and that I may have other matter, besides what is contained in this letter, to communicate to you concerning the good cause in which we are mutually engaged; as also that I may with truth and propriety be able to adopt some other signature than that of

A TRAVELLEr.

P.S. At York there is a very large, costly, and splendid chapel now erecting to receive the society of Methodists, who abound, and are increasing in that city; and Mr. Overton and his followers are there also, I am informed, carrying things with a high and triumphant hand.

London, March 24, 1806.

EXTRACTS.

EXTRACTS.

LETTER from SIR ISAAC NEWTON to DR. BENTLEY.

SIR,

WHE

WHEN I wrote my treatise about our system, I had an eye upon such principles as might work with considering men for the belief of a Deity; and nothing can rejoice me more than to find it useful for that purpose. But if I have done the public any service this way, it is due to nothing but industry and patient thought.

As to your first query, it seems to me, that if the matter of our sun and planets, and all the matter of the universe, were evenly scattered throughout all the heavens, and every particle had an innate gravity towards all the rest, and the whole space throughout which this matter was scattered was but finite, the matter on the outside of this space would, by its gravity, tend towards all the matter on the inside, and, by consequence, fall down into the middle of the whole space, and there compose one great spherical mass. But if the matter was evenly disposed throughout an infinite space, it would never convene into one mass; but some of it convene into one mass, and some into another, so as to make an infinite number of great masses scattered at great distances from one another throughout all that infinite space; and thus might the sun and fixed stars be formed, supposing the matter were of a lucid nature. But how the matter should divide itself into two sorts, and that part of which is fit to compose a shining body, should fall down into one mass, and make a sun; and the rest, which is fit to compose an opaque body, should coalesce, not into one great body, like the shining matter, but into many little ones; or, if the sun was at first an opaque body like the planets, or the planets lucid bodies like the sun, how he alone should be changed into a shining body, whilst all they continue opaque, or all they be changed into opaque ones, whilst he remains unchanged; I do not think explicable by mere natural

causes,