472 PROCEEDINGS of the POLITICAL CLUB, &c. Oct. B left for unforeseen and unavoidable accidents, by which a man's appearance might be prevented. This bill likewife, Sir, labours under the fame inconvenience that most of our late new laws labour under, by which I mean that of multiplying exceffively, and in moft cafes needlefsly the number of A oaths. We have already rendered oaths fo frequent, that even perjury itself is, I fear, become familiar to many of the vulgar, and this bill will add greatly to the misfortune. I can fee no reason why any man should be obliged to fwear to his qualification, as he is to be fined if he in many cafes an oath is to be admiacts without being duly qualified; and niftred where it is quite ridiculous to require any fuch folemnity: A militia man cannot by this bill be punished for being abfent, for being drunk, for giving-the lie to his ferjeant, or for any other little peccadillo, without a folemn oath before a juftice of the peace. But, Sir, it would be endiefs to take notice of all the errors, overfights, and imperfections of this bill, therefore I fhall add no more, but conclude with declaring, that, in the light I view it in at prefent, I cannot give my confent to its being passed into a law. [This JOURNAL to be continued in our next.] This, I am convinced, Sir, was not the end intended by the Hon. gentlemen who had the drawing up of this bill, therefore it is evident that it is not conLeived in fuch terms as may be effectual for the end intended; and as to the feveral claufes, if I were to enter into a particular examination of them, I could shew that doubts must arise upon almost every one of them, and that fome of them are fuch as will in practice be found abfolutely inexecutable. Even as to the appointment of deputy-lieutenants and commiffioned officers, I am in fome doubt whether thofe that fhall be appointed may not, if properly qualified, be obliged to ferve; for the laws for impowering our fovereign to appoint theriffs, do not, by any clauses in them, oblige those who are appointed to ferve; and yet we know that they are, and have always been obliged to ferve. If this doubt should be determined in the affirmative, it will be deemed fuch a hardship as must raise a general difcontent; and if it should be determined in the negative, I am, with the noble lord who spoke first against this bill, fully convinced, that in many counties it will be impoffible to get gentlemen to accept. This, it is true, cannot be certainly known until a trial be made, but to make a law which thall upon trial be found abfolutely inexecutable, will furely derogate from the character of the legif- D lature, and this we ought to avoid for own fakes, as well as for the fake of our constitution, which would be in very great danger, if the people thould conceive a mean opinion of the wifdom of the legiflature. F For this reafon, Sir, I am of opinion, that the objection made to the bill by my E noble friend, is far from being weakened by the answer that has been made to it; and his other objection did not proceed from a mistake or overfight of his, but from a mistake or overfight in the drawing up of the bill. We all know how strictly our penal laws are interpreted, how fricly they always ought to be interpreted; for upon this the fafety of every man's life, liberty, and property, in a great measure depends. Therefore, whatever the noble duke may think, I do not believe that any cautious judge would, I am fure no judge ought, to fubject a man to a penalty for not appearing, when the aw inflicts that penalty only upon his refufing or neglecting to take G the oaths. Befides it might have been out of the man's power to have appeared at the time and place appointed; therefore this claufe ought to have been drawn up in a more full manner, and fome room • St. John, ch. xviii. ver. 28. **** To the AUTHOR of the LONDON SIR, MR. Ferguson, in his Aftronomy ex plained, lately published, has the following obfervations upon the History of our Saviour's Crucifixion, which I becaufe, for the benefit of Chriftianity, hope you will infert in your Magazine, they ought to be made as publick as poffible; and therefore I fend them to your Magazine, as being that which, I believe, goes into more hands than all the others put together. Mr. Ferguson, after having given a full, clear, and diftin&t account of eclipfes, obferves as follows. §. 347. From the above explanation of the doctrine of eclipfes, it is evident, that the darknefs at our Saviour's crucifixion was fupernatural. For he suffered on the day that the paffover was caten and the celebration of the patiover is ftrictly commanded in feveral places of of the first month, or moon †, which the Old Testament to be on the 14th day day, according to the Jews way of reckoning, from the firft appearance of the moon after her change, fell upon the day of her being full. But the moon, when full, is in the fide of the heavens, oppofite † Exod. cb. xii. ver. 6, and many other places. 1756. Time of the Nativity and Crucifixion afcertained. 473 fite to the fun, and therefore cannot at that time caft her fhadow on the earth, neither does the total darkness in natural eclipfes of the fun laft five minutes, whereas the darkness at the crucifixion lafted three hours * ; and feems to have overfpread much more of the earth than was poffible from an interposition of the A moon. §. 348. The Jews always began their day at fun-fetting, and kept the passover on the day of the first full moon after the vernal equinox (which, in our Saviour's time, fell on the evening of the 22d day of March) For Jofephus exprefsly fays †, "The paffover was kept on the 14th day of the month Nifan, according to the B moon, when the fun was in Aries." And the fun always enters the sign Aries at the vernal equinox. But whoever calculates, will find that a total eclipfe of the fun could not poffibly happen at Jerufalem any time that year in the natural way. All this (from §. 348, to 353, inclufive) feems fufficient to afcertain the true time of our Saviour's birth and cruci fixion to be according to our prefent computation; and to put an end to the controverfy among chronologers on that head. From hence likewife may be inferred the truth of the prophetick parts of fcripture, fince they can fland fo ftrict a teft as that of being examined on the principles of aftronomy. To the AUTHOR of the LONDON MAGAZINE. A land, which from ber feems to push the reft, O Fortunatos nimium fua fi bona norint ! $ 349. There is a remarkable prophecy in Daniel, ch. ix. ver. 26, 27. concerning the year in which the Meffiah fhould be cut off. And he ball confirm the covenart with many for one week and in C the midst of the week be fhall cause the facrifice and the oblations to ceafe. Now, as it is generally allowed, that by each of Daniel's prophetick weeks was meant feven years, the middle of the week muft be in the fourth year. And, as our Saviour did not enter upon his publick ministry, or confirming the covenant, until he was baptized, which, according to St. Luke, D ch. i. ver. 23. was in the beginning of his 30th year, or when he was full 29 years old; this prophecy points out the very year of his death; namely, the 33d year of his age, or fourth year of his publick miniAry. Let us now try whe ther we can afcertain that year from aftronomical principles and calculations. The author then proceeds to this trial, and in the three following paragraphs clearly demonftrates, from aftronomical principles and calculations, that our Saviour's death or crucifixion must have been in the 33d year of his age, or fourth year of his publick miniftry; after which he obferves as follows. E F §. 353. The above 33d year was the 4746th year of the Julian period, and the Jaft year of the 202d Olympiad ; which is the very year that Phlegon informs us an extraordinary eclipfe of the fun happened. His words are, In the 4th year of the 202d Olympiad there was the greatest eclipfe of the fun that ever was known: It quas night at the fixth bour of the day, fo that G the flars of beaven were feen. This time of the day agrees exactly with the time that the darkness began, according to Matthew, ch. xvii. ver. 25. Mark, ch. xv. ver. 33. and Luke, ch. xxiii. ver. 44. October, 1756. * Math. b. xxvii. wer, 45. HOEVER has a true regard for the honour and welfare of Proteftantifm, his prefent majefty, and his illuftrious houfe, or in other words for Church and State, and is but tolerably verfed in hiftory, and will fit down with a ferious concern to ruminate on the prefent ftate of this nation, in its civil, military and ecclefiaftical capacity, muft lament to fee how nearly it refembles the Grecian and Roman empires when they were verging towards the point of their diffolution. That general deluge of luxury and pride, profligacy of morals, and an open and avowed contempt of the Deity, BRIBERY and VENALITY which overflowed them just before their ruin, is but too lively a picture of this nation, tho' to fad and dif agreeable to the eye of every true Briton to behold with the leaft fatisfaction. (Step. 427.) To confider it in its civil and military capacity,is a point that I shall leave to others; my defign at prefent, Sir, being only to make a few reflections upon it in its ecclefiaftical one. That regulations as to the income of the Clergy in the prefent ftate of the Church, are much wanting, is too vifible to be denied; but how this is to be done, and by whom, I fubmit to thofe whom it more particularly concerns to confider. That there should be fubordinate degrees of the Clergy in the government of the Church is a point which needs no proof. That there fhould be a fuitable provifion made for each degree, and all due honour and refpect paid to them, fo long as they behave worthy of the facred Order, is another point equally Artig. lib. iii, cb. x. 28 474 HARDSHIPS of the inferior CLERGY. as plain; but that there should be fuch B by the other: For the following hint may "Nor would I have it long obferv'd, To confider now a little the fecular and mercenary views of fome of the Clergy, the merit of others neglected, and the generous, gentleman-like ufage of fome Rectors to their Curates. A certain great Dignitary being reminded once, "That the church was in danger," replied, "Poh, poh, brother, never fear but it will laft out our time." This puts me in mind of an beneft Prebend, who, at a dividend of the Dean and Chapter, cried out to a brother that fat next him, "On my confcience, (at the fame time sweeping the money off the table, with a leering fmile, into his broad beaver) I do think that the Church of England is the best-confituted church this day upon earth." That it is fo, taking it altogether, I am firmly perfuaded myfelf, but in a fenfe fomewhat different from thofe who regard only the mere Opus operatum. To be ferious: When Hooker's book of Ecclefiaftical Po Dlity was thown to the Pope, and he was told century and half, to fhow upon C how different a footing the difpofal of livings and fettlement of the cure were then: Needlefs, I fay, becaufe a propofal now of establishing church preferment in a more equal way, and of performing Divine Service in fuch a manner as would tend most to the honour of God, and the comfort of the neceffitous part of his minifters, would, in thefe tenacious, felfinter fed times, be treated with too much ridicule and contempt. I am as far, Sir, from being a friend to the levelling Scheme among the Clergy as any man whatever, as that muft, in its own nature, be not only abfurd, but alfo quite inconfiftent with an epifcopal government of the Church: In God's name, Sir, let their graces and E their lordships enjoy the revenues of the Church, but (with all due fubmission !) let them enjoy them with propriety and decency; I mean, in following, as their abilities and opportunities ferve, the noble example of a late Primate of Ireland, whose memory will for ever reign in the hearts of all good and confiderate men for his afterwards how poorly that pious and learned author was provided for; his Holiness replied, to fome of the cardinals that were with him, "I never fear that Church that can neglect fuch men as Hooker." Was I to enumerate, Sir, all thofe learned and laborious men, who have fo nobly drawn their pens in defence of the Chriftian Cause, but at the fame time been fhamefully fuffered (by those who were fo well able, and whofe duty it was to have made a better provifion for them) to be oppreft with poverty, and at laft die upon a poor rectory or vicarage, I should trefpafs too much upon the patience of princely and munificent acts of piety and Fall charity, as well to the neceffitous part of learned readers, and therefore, with all due deference to the reft of the worthy bis Our correspondent we hope confiders abfolute purity of mera's, as one necessary recommendation to srders, at leaf to preferment in the efaulted church. Sir, 1756. Corruptions of the Church and of the Age. 475 have fo far forgot the dignity of their high office, of being the ambaffadors of heaven, as to depreciate its original and noble value with the bafe alloy of fecular views; no, Sir, I honour that facred Order too much; and will be bold to fay, that no man alive has a profounder respect, or can have them in greater efteem and reverence: And to give them the utmost proofs I am able of the fincerity of my heart in this point, I do feriously and folemnly profefs, that, was it in my power,, I would buy up all the Impropriations in England, and prefent them to the Church in a full Convocation; and fhould have as much real pleafure and fatisfaction in feeB ing the Church's Temporalities reilored to the Clergy, as they could have themielves in having their First Fruits and Tenths temitted to them by the Piety of an Augufta. Horace has long ago, Sir, obferved, and very juftly too, that the Kidicu lum has generally a much fronger and better effect upon the vices and follies of the times than the Acer ; but the prefent age is happily bleft with fuch a front of Brafs as not to know what a modest blush is, and abfolutely bids defiance to the one as well as the other, by a fupercilious treatment of thofe fmart and lively pa-. pers of the Spectators, &c. Connoiffeur, World, and other poignant writers, fo that the fenfe of shame is now entirely banifht D from among the children of men. deed, with regard to religion and the Sacred Writings, we are so far arrived to the rara Temporum falicias, (under the emperour Trajan) that, fentire quæ velis, bis Church) think themfelves good œconomists, in higgling with a poor Curate for a very few pounds per ann. and take care to prefer those the most, who will ferve their fat benefices for them the cheapest. But, thro' my respect to the Sacred Order, I forbear, and only afk if all fuch as thefe are not the fpawn of Ebion, Cerinthus, A Apollos, &c. the grievous Wolves, and Huckfers of the Gospel prophecied of, and mentioned by St. Paul? I know a very worthy young man here in the neighbourhood, who has been upon a Country Curacy for thefe 10 years pait; but, as he has the Misfortune of baving much more merit than many of his cotemporaries, and at the fame time not a friend to promote him, I believe I may fafely venture to prophecy, that he will fill be no more than a Curate 10 years hence, and that he may acquiefce in his having got to his ne plus ultra; and tho' he is my particular friend, and I have had an exact knowledge of him from his first coming into life, yet I muft needs give my voice against C him, in faying, that he is very ill quali fied for getting preferment now-a-days: For as to playing a smart game at Whist, riding neck or nothing in Hunting, being a bon Socio at Drinking, or torfling a pretty Girl, he is a mere Afs at all thefe polite Accomplishments, which procure fuch eafy preferment to our dull, pliable Corafodes's, and fmart eamy Sprigs of divinity, who are of fuch a bappy, flexible turn as to fneer at an honest man who is fo aukward and ill-bred as not to know how to be a Weather-Cock to the times: But then, as to the learned languages, explaining and reconciling texts of fcripture, a ge. neral tafte for the litera Humaniores, and for his probity and integrity of life and E converfation, he is Homo factus ad unguem. But, alas! Sir, thefe are very unhappy ta lents, as I have often told him, in fuch a difcerning age as this, for promoting merit, and will mot probably be a bar to all hopes of further preferment; however, he has the great Satisfaction to hear his friends often quoting in his favour, that memorable paffage of dean Swift's, "What a pity it is that fomething is not done for poor Mr. Eugenio !" Thefe reflections, Sir, upon the prefent ftate of the Church, which I am forry I have fo much occafion to make, will perhaps bring me under the imputation of being an enemy to the Clergy: But I hope that the fentible and worthy part of that venerable body of men will G be pleased to obferve, once for all, that it is by no means the joored Function I aim at, but at the tafe and mercenary ends in difpofing of Preferment, and at thofe unworthy fucceffours of the Apofties, who F In quæ fentias dicere, licet; but in all other respects, in point of morality, virtue, patriotifm, and common honesty, we feel fufficiently the difmal effects of an Iron Age, whilft we in vain with for the return of a Golden one. The goddess Aftræa, with her beautiful train of attendants, has long fince taken her flight from this once happy ifand, defirous of being an inhabitant of purer regions, and has left it to be poifoned and plagued with the baneful blafts of Damons, Furies, and Harpies. As this island is detached from the continent, it feems by its fituation to have been originally defigned by Pitdence to make its inhabitants complearly happy within themfelves, were they but tenfible of their happiness, and knew properly how to value it aright: But Ged, in his juft judgments, is pleased to let a Curfe go forth upon fome nations for their being fo wilfully blind, as that they will not fee their own happiness, and pursue them till they are ripe for a total excifion. This, it is greatly to be fcared, will be our cafe, and much toomer 0002 476 MANNERS of a certain ISLAND. than we imagine, if it is not timely pre- "Fruitful of crimes, this age first ftain'd own." From the INSPECTOR, N° 332. HERE is an ifland fituated in the Tnorth-west parts of Europe, famous Where, among the ladies, even of the highest quality, happy is fhe, who in her negligee can come nearest to the flatternly chambermaid; or in her fack, fierce cock, and ftreamers, keep pace with a modifh ftrumpet; and in her riding-habit appear like a highwayman, who would blow Where, the fair ones, your brains out. fetting at nought the foftnefs and delicacy, which formerly was the characteriftick of that fex, act like the amazons of old (and contrary to the famous Robin Hood, who would affociate with no man who could not beat him) feem refolved not to match unless with fuch as they are fure they can beat. These are distinB guished by the name of Bucks, renouncing that of Dame, which in French fig. nifies a Lady, or a Doe Where, a fashionable fcoundrel, gamefter, pimp, or fycophant is careffed, whilft modeft merit is difcountenanced. Where, daring to do an injury, and maintain it at the point of the fword, is taken for courage and hoC nour. Where, men of this ftamp are by way of eminence ftiled Bloods. Where, thefe Bloods and Bucks push at every one they meet, affect to have no bowels, Jaugh at another's calamity, and think it cowardice to fear God. Where, the generality are covetous of another's, and profufe of their own. Where, many a man has been known to fquander an eftate of three or four thousand pounds a year good rents, while grafping at a precarious place of one thousand. Where, another hall build him a palace fo expen. five, that, by the time it is finished, he has fcarce a groat left to make a fire in the kitchen. Where, if you dine with an acquaintance, you are to pay his fervants three times as much as your dinner is worth, befides the obligation to your hoft. Where, the maimed feamen are removed from the hold of a fhip, into a regal edifice, adorned with all the most fumptuous orders of architecture (for the fake of which finery, the number, as well as the provifions of these poor crea D for the liberty its inhabitants enjoy of thinking, fpeaking and acting (except E where the gallows is immediately threatened, and fometimes even where it is) just as prompted by the whim which at that inftant predominates. It is remarkable, that the greatest abufers of this liberty are fuch as contend that they have no right to any at all! Where, in the perpe tual mutation of their drefs, they ftilltures, are much limited) whilst the mo contrive fomething which, in Japan, would of a flouched hat, a striped flannel wait- G narch is poorly lodged in a patched building: Where, alfo the horfes are often better lodged than their owner. Where, there is one form of religion eftablished by the laws of the country, but in reality almost as many followed as there are people in it; for, befides a number of fects, who profeffedly maintain oppofite doctrines, hardly any two of the fame church or meeting, can in all points agree which is the traiteft road to heaven ; and thus are wrangling all their lives long, about the best manner of obtaining the peace of God. Where, there |