fecond propofition is true, is thus attempted to be demonftrated. "If there were more than one God, there might be an infinity of gods, which feems abfurd; for to fuppofe even two Beings exifting independently of each other, that is, having feparate exiftences, and yet both to exift neceffarily, involves a contradiction; for if the existence of each is independent of that of the other, and perfectly unconnected with it, then the existence of one of them feparately from that of the other, is perfectly conceivable and intelligible; therefore the non-existence of the other may be fuppofed; therefore it is pofiible; (for what is impoffible may be: admitted in argument, but cannot be fuppofed, being unintelligible; therefore its existence is not neceffary, which contra-、 dicts the fuppofition of its neceffity." P. 457. This demonftration of the unity of God has no claim whatever to originality. It is indeed nothing elfe than the feventh propofition of Dr. Clarke's celebrated Demonftration, which Bifhop Butler found it fo difficult to understand, and which other metaphyficians of fome name have deemed a mere fophifm. The hity of the Supreme Being my be inferred from the harmony of the Univerfe and the unity of defign which appears to pervade the whole; but it cannot be demonftrated from any notion of neceffity, which has ever been conceived by the mind of man. Since Beings now exift it. neceffarily follows that fome one Being muft always have exifted to whom exiflence is effential, or fo neceffary that his existence can have had no beginning nor can poff:oly have an end; but we are acquainted with no law of human thought which compels us to deny that there may be more fuch Beings than one, or to perceive in the fuppofition of a plurality any thing contradictory. According to Dr. Clarke the neceffity by which the Supreme Being exifts, is the very fame kind of neceffity which is the caufe of the un Iterable relation between two and four; but, it the word caufe can be here ufed without abfurdity, the neceffity, which is the caufe of the relation between two and four, is the caufe likewile of the relation between three and fix, between fix and twelve, and even between fix and eighteen Why then may not two or more independent Beings exift, as well as one, by fuch" neceffity? We cannot indeed demonftrate the existence of more than one fuch Being, beca.fe no more than one is See Encyclopædia Britannica, 3d edition, 'Vol. XI, pp. 601, 602, with the works referred to in the margins of those pages. Q ૧૩ recellary neceffary for the creation and government of the world; and that there is actually but one fupreme and independent Being is fo evident from the unity of defign, &c. that to fup. pofe more than one is highly unreafonable; but let not the pride of philofophy be afhamed to confefs that it is to di vine revelation alone that we are indebted for our knowledge of the unity of God. In this Author's difquifitions on the attributes of God we have found as little novelty as in his demonftration a priori of the Divine exiftence. We have found, indeed, many falutary truths, and likewife feveral pofitions, which we cannot admit: but we have not found one truth or one error, that we have not repeatedly met with elsewhere. The whole indeed feems to be a compilation from Leibnitz, Clarke, Archbishop King, Lord Bolingbroke, Tucker*, Dr. Priestley, Dr. Law, and the Analytical Review! and we have no hesitation to fay that the third is by far the leaft valuable and leaft ingenious Effay in the volume. That Dr. Kirwan fhould have adopted the pre-eftablished harmony of Leibnitz, or rather fomething resembling that harmony, as far as the efficacy of prayer is concerned, does not furprise us; for much may be faid in favour of it, and has indeed been said in its favour by Wollafton and others, in terms more plaufible than thofe which are here employed; but that the man who be lieves that all the fenfations and impreffions, from which we infer the existence of the material world, are impreffed on the mind by the immediate agency of the Deity, fhould yet deny the reality of thefe Divine influences, to which Chriftian Di vines give the name of Grace, docs indeed furprife us. On this fubject, however, he prefers to the reafonings of Berkeley, which to us, though Hyloifts, appear unanfwerable, the reafonings of Bolingbroke, a notorious Deift; and of "the excellent Dr. Prieffley," a materialist and neceffarian! On the whole we have been much amufed, fometimes inftructed, and often difappointed by this volume. Yet we fhall be glad to fee a fecond by the fame author; and requeft him to pay greater attention to the correcting of the prefs than he feems to have done when the Ellays before us were paffing through it; for they abound with errors undoubtedly typographical, though not one is corrected either at the beginning or at the end of the volume. ✦ Here referred to by his fictitious name, Search. ART. VIII. Erin, a geographical and defcriptive Poem. Large 8vo. With a Map, and feveral Vignette Plates. By the Rev. E. Smedley. 87 pp. 11. 1s. For the Author, by Ginger, College Street. 1810. To examine this production as a poem, to analyze its plan, and balance the cadence of its verfes, would be to depart from the line of judicious criticism. The author is not now commencing a poetical career, the fuccefs of which is to be calculated from this fpecimen. Having been thirty-fix years employed as an affiftant in a public fchool*, he muft rather be taking his leave of the Mufes, than paying his court to them; and his appeal must be more to the regard of the multitudes, who, in that long period, have passed under his care, than to the fuffrage of the public at large. We fee him, accordingly, fupported by a moft honourable lift of names, and we cordially hope that the ultimate result will be fuch, as to gratify every feeling of the veteran inAructor. Erin has, however, further claims to attention. It is, as far as we know, the firft fpecimen of a local and defcriptive poem on Ireland; and though, with reference to a subject so extenfive, it may appear but a sketch, yet does it bring for ward many remarkable particulars, and contain feveral pleafing allufions to the hiftory and traditions of that country. It will, therefore, fill a chafm, till fome more elaborate and extended poem fhall take its ftation next to the thirty books of Drayton's Polyolbion. The concluding lines, in which the poet celebrates the famous harp of Brien Boro, king of Ireland, ftill preserved in the library of Trinity College, Dublin, may afford no unfavourable fpecimen of the poetry. Brien Boro, it seems, was flain in his twenty-fifth battle against the Danes, in 1014. "Mute is the tongue of Erin's tuneful king, Rude tho' himself, each faithful kern admires Feats of the brave he fung-the robber Dane, "If haply I, without a mufe of fire, But with the oak her hallow'd grafs entwine, A few notes are fubjoined to the poem, which, to English readers in particular, muft be indifpenfable, as they illuftrate local allufions very little known on this fide of the Channel *. Some of the vignette plates are extremely elegant, particu larly the lait, p. 59. ART. IX. Sermons by Samuel Horfley, LL.D. F.R.S. F. A. S. Late Lord Bishop of St. Asaph. 2 Vols. Svo. 11. 1s. London, Hatchard, Cadell and Davies; Edinburgh, Manners and Miller. 1810. No O English preachers, in their day, drew together more crowded audiences, or more completely engaged the attention of thofe audiences, than the late Bishops of London and St. Afaph. Both Prelates were indeed fully entitled to. all the admiration, which, as pulpit-orators, they obtained, nor would it be eafy to fay, which of them obtained the larger portion; and yet few preachers, juftly celebrated, and equally orthodox, have differed more widely than these two diftinguished men, either in the choice of their fubjects, or in their manner of difcuffing them. * A small book entitled "Hibernia curiofa," republished in London in 1782, contains delineations of feveral curiofities mentioned in this poem, rude indeed, but probably exact: for inftance, of the giant's caufeway, the Powerscourt-waterfall, the lake of Killarney, &c. The The former generally preached on common topics, on which it was impoffible to fay any thing at once novel and true; but by the fimple elegance of his ftyle, the melliffluence. of his voice, and the earnefinefs of his manner, he delighted liftening multitudes, while he was bringing home to their bufinefs and bofoms, the practical doctrines of the gospel. The latter, confcious, as men of itrong and capacious minds generally are, of his own powers, feems to have taken pleafure in grappling with difficulties, from which most other preachers would have fhrunk; and convinced that it is the duty of the Chriflian Clergy to declare unto thofe committed to their pastoral care, all the counfel of God, as far as it is known to themselves, he never fhunned an opportunity that was afforded him, of explaining to thofe, to whom he was preaching, the moft obfcure paffage of Scripture, which apa peared to have any reference, even remote, either to their faith or to their practice. In throwing light on obfcurity, he excelled, indeed, all the preachers whom we recollect to have heard; and though it is generally thought dangerous to enter, in the pulpit, upon a critical or logical difcuffion, of which if a link in the chain of argument be loft, the object of the whole difcourfe is liable to be mistaken, little danger of this kind was to be apprehended when Bifhop Horfley was the preacher. The fubject of his fermons was feldom hackneyed, his illuftrations of what was obfcure were ge nerally fo original, and in his voice and manner there was fomething fo commanding, that the attention of his auditors could hardly wander. The characters of these two great prelates, as preachers, were, in our hearing, accurately diftinguithed, and in a very few words, by a clergyman, who obferved, that "the Bishop of London folicited the attention of his andience, and by the gentlenels of his manner, and the agree able fmoothness of his ftyle, obtained it; while the Bithop of St. Afaph, by the energy of his manner, and the vigour of his ftyle, compelled that attention which he demanded." The fmoothing or rounding of periods, indeed, feems not to have been at any time an object of his particular regard; but his flyle was always fuited to his thoughts; it rofe and fell with his fubject; and if it was fometimes rough, it was never feeble, and never perplexed. As he thought profoundly, he fpoke and wrote nervously and perfpicuously. It was obvious to all who had ever heard him, that his fermous, however haftily compofed, were at least as fit for the clofet as for the church; and we believe that at his death, a with very generally prevailed, that thofe difcourfes, which when |