creation and government of the univerfe. He alledges, on this fubject, that the nature of things could not fubfift before the things of which it is the nature; and that what is ufually intended by the expreffion, is the pofitive appointment and conftitution of the Supreme Being, by whofe provifions,' in his own language, all other beings whatsoever were created, their primary properties affigned them, and their positions, affections, affortments, and relations, brought upon them.'

The next chapter, intitled, Providence, contains, in our opinion, a very rational account and fatisfactory proof of the theory of univerfal Providence, extending to all events, the minuteft not excepted, both in the natural and moral world, difpofing all things fo as that they should produce those effects which God, in his wifdom, thought proper to ordain, interpofing wherever he thought fit in his original plan to leave room for interpofition, and difpenfing happinefs, according to the councils of infinite wifdom, to all the creatures who are capable of enjoying it throughout the boundless dominion of the one Creator and Governor of the univerfe. As the fcheme which our Author has advanced may be thought inconfiftent with liberty of will, the justice of reward and punishment, &c. he fets himself, in the next chapter, intitled, Freewill, to confider Liberty, Freewill, Foreknowledge, Fate, &c. But as this is only a republication of the fragment printed by Mr. Search about seven years ago, and of which an account was given in our Review when it first appeared, we shall make no further remarks upon it.

In the 27th chapter, intitled, Equality, we have that inference from the equity of God, of which we formerly took notice, deduced and illuftrated. We fhall give it to our Readers in the Author's Words:

We have seen reafon,' faith he, likewife to conclude from contemplation of the divine Nature, exempt from want, or paffion, or humour, or weakness, that God is righteous in ail his dealings, and equal in all his ways, being no respecter of perfons; that his mercy is over all his works, and that equity is the attribute where of we can have the clearest conception, as implying nothing more than an impartial diftribution of the divine bounty among all creatures capable of receiving it. Since then none of us have any thing befides what we received from the divine bounty, and that bounty flows alike upon all, it follows unavoidably, that there must be an exact equality of fortunes among us, and the value of each. perfon's existence computed throughout the whole extent of his Being, precifely the fame.

It is obferved by Mr. Search, in his chapter on The Incomprehenfibility of God, that we know nothing of the first cause

except

except what may be gathered from ourfelves, and the objects moft nearly furrounding us. But can we trace in ourselves, or in the objects which furround us, any femblance of that equality which he fuppofes to be the neceflary refult of the divine equity The greatest variety reigns through all the works of God and that wifdom, or whatever other perfection it be, which limits the exercife of infinite goodnefs, may, we apprehend, render that variety perpetual, without infringing upon equity. The principles on which our Author reafons, would, as he candidly intimates, lead us to conclude, that the pleafures and pains of all men were alike in every ftage or period of their existence. Experience, he allows, contradicts this theory we think it totally overthrows it, and proves the erroneous nature of the principles on which it is founded. As we object to the scheme of equality itfelf, we think it fuperfluous to make any remarks on the notion of the fpiritual fubftance taking its turn in rotation among the feveral forms and conditions of beings, which is advanced meerly to account for it. We fhall only obferve, that the Author's fcheme of equity and equality, ftrictly purfued, would render it neceflary that, in rotation, matter fhould be converted into fpirit, and fpirit into matter, in order that all the creatures of God might equally partake of his bounty: for, while matter and spirit fubfift, there will be an inequality and variety inconfiftent with the idea he feems to entertain of perfect equity and impartiality.

We moft heartily approve of thofe noble fentiments of enlarged univerfal benevolence, which we find in the next chapter, intitled, General Good; though we do not admit the prin ciples on which they are founded, Though we reject the notion of equality as groundlefs and imaginary, we are as firmly perfuaded as he can be, that there is a real connection of interefts, and mutual dependence of happinefs, not only among mankind but among all the creatures of God; and confequently that, by promoting the happinefs of individuals, we add to the quantity of happinefs in the univerfe, promote the general good, and moft effectually confult our private intereft. To feel thefe fentiments, and to act agrecably to them, is the true excellence, and the higheft felicity, of all rational and intelligent beings.

In the 29th chapter Mr. Search has given us a very rational difcourfe on divine juftice; the connection between offence and punishment; the defign of punishment; the difference be tween reward and bounty, &c. He has inferted a judicious interpretation of the precepts of the decalogue; and clofed it with fome pertinent remarks on the images employed both by facred

and

and profane writers in defcribing the enjoyments and punishments of the future ftate.

Senfible that his fcheme of equality and rotation is incompatible with an abfolute perpetuity of punishment in the future ftate, he proceeds, in the next chapter, to confider this fubject, the duration of future punishment. So far as what he has advanced upon this topic is connected with his favourite fcheme of equality, we have no concern with it. In general he obferves, that the doctrine of endless punishment has no foundation in human reafon; that the term everlasting is frequently ased, even in scripture, for periods which are not fuppofed to be endless, and that, when applied there to future punifliment, it may well be thought to intend an indefinite, not infinite, duration. As to the manner in which he endeavours to maintain thefe pofitions, and to guard against the perverfion of them, we must refer to the work itself.

The laft chapter is intitled, Re-enlargement of Virtue. This title refers to the concluding chapter of the first volume, which was intitled, Limitation of Virtue. The chapter itself confifts, in general, of obfervations on the whole of the Author's fcheme; apologies for his peculiar fentiments, opinions, and manner of writing; and remarks on the affiftance we derive from philofophy, the ftudy of human nature, &c. in forming a rational, well-connected fyftem of religion and morality.

We have now, at length, finished our review of this comprehenfive and elaborate performance. The variety and importance of the subjects on which it treats, must be our apology for the length to which we have protracted our remarks. We were willing to give as clear an idea as poffible of the Author's general scheme, and to point out fome of the particulars in which we thought it defective and erroneous. At the fame time we have been careful to do as much justice as we were able, to the fagacity and ingenuity which he hath difcovered in his reasonings and illuftrations, as well as to the sprightlinefs of his imagination, and the goodnefs of his heart. We could have wished that, in fome inftances, he had given lefs play to his fancy, because it appears to have mifled his judgment. But, upon the whole, we fincerely recommend the work to the free and candid enquirer after truth, as a performance worthy of his attentive perufal. He may not, perhaps, approve of the Author's general scheme, or of detached parts of his fyftem; but he cannot fail to meet with a number of useful instructions, judicious obfervations, and enlarged fentiments, which will contribute equally to his improvement and fatisfaction.

ART. II.

ART. III. Memoirs de Chirurgie, &c.-Memoirs on feveral Chirurgical Subjects, together with fome hiftorical Remarks on the present State of Phyfic and Surgery in France and England. By George Arnaud, M. D. Member of the Royal Academy of Surgery at Paris, &c. In Two Parts. Small 4to. 11. 6 s. in boards. London, Nourfe. 1768.

THI

HIS ingenious and mifcellaneous work contains eleven memoirs, two of which are tranflated from the English, and the remaining nine are proper to the Author. We fhall give their titles in the order in which he has prefented them, together with fome account of their contents.

MEMOIR I. On the Hernia Congenita.

This is a translation of the 9th chapter of Dr. Hunter's Medical Commentaries, of which we gave an account in the 27th volume of our Review, page 319. It is here accompanied by notes, and followed by feveral inftructive reflections and obfervations, of a nature, however, which renders them not fufceptible either of extract or abridgment.

MEMOIR II. On the inconveniencies arifing from Hernias in Pricfts of the Romish church.

This memoir may rather be termed cafuiftical than chirurgical. It has been reckoned a problem of very difficult folution, whether a rupture renders a priest of the Romish communion irregular; i. e. whether it incapacitates him from the performance of the functions of the priesthood. The Author, who, as a catholic, thinks this queftion of importance, enters gravely into the merits of it. He quotes fcripture and other authorities on the fubject, and at laft inclines to the negative. He next, with equal gravity, difcuffes other questions which bear a relation to this fubject; particularly, whether mutilation, emafculation, and impotence, render the perfons labouring under these defects unfit for the priesthood? With regard to eunuchs in particular, the ecclefiaftical canons have condemned them, and councils have anathematifed them. Even those who have ren

dered themselves eunuchs for righteoufnefs fake, have, we find, been confidered by the church as homicides, and deftroyers of the work of God. St. Origen, when a fimple catechist, and previous to his taking the last orders, being, we fuppofe, of a warm temperament, voluntarily reduced himself into this ftate, in order to avoid the temptations to which he was expofed, in his intimate converfe with the female catechumens.-Surely, Il falloit, as M. Beauval fays on another occafion, que le mal fut fort preffant, pour recourir à un remede fi violent. For this breach of the laudable difcipline of the church, he was fufpended from all clerical functions, and at last excommunicated. An horrible fchifm was the confequence of this

9

felf

felf-mortifying act of the faint, who unwittingly kindled the flames of difcord in the church, by extinguifhing thofe of concupifcence in himself. Even fo lately as thirty years ago, as we are informed by the Author, a French clergyman of diftinguifhed rank was, for the fame reafon, degraded by the Bifhop of Chalons. The Author adduces, and approves of, feveral authorities on this subject, from which we collect that those who have become eunuchs through accident or misfortune ought not to be deemed irregular; but that the church fhews no mercy to those who have voluntarily reduced themselves to this mutilated ftate, with a view of preferving their chastity. After all, the queftion, we think, non eft tanti to require a difcuffion in this place: or, if we were to give our opinion on this subject, we fhould think that a ruptured, mutilated, emafculated, or impotent Romish prieft is, cæteris paribus, preferable, for certain obvious reafons, to a found, compleat, and vigorous one. Indeed, with the defects above enumerated, as Paul Zacchias affirms, fpeaking of the firft of them, maximum incommodum in libero corporis ufu emanat:- but furely the getting of children is not one of the functions, at least of the oftenfible ones, of the Romish priesthood!

MEMOIR III. On the differences obferved in the fituation and number of the Teftes.

In the first part of this memoir the Author examines the following queftion; viz. Whether the perfons whose teftes have not yet defcended into the scrotum, but ftill remain in the abdomen, or in the groins, are qualified for generation, and may be admitted to the facrament of marriage; and whether the nonappearance of the teftes in the fcrotum affords juft grounds for a divorce? On a multitude of authorities he endeavours to establifh the procreative fufficiency of the fubjects thus conftituted. He next treats of those who have been fo fingularly qualified with regard to thefe organs, as to acquire the appellations of Triorchides, Tetrorchides, and even Pentorchides; of all which he gives inftances. Those who choose to amufe themfelves with the Author's relation of the feats performed by thefe peculiarly gifted perfonages, we must neceflarily refer to the work. The latter, and most important part, of this memoir, contains feveral practical obfervations relating to the diforders which arife from the preternatural fituation and compreffion.of the teftes in the groin, or under the ligamentum fallopii, and feveral inftances of mistakes committed by practitioners, who have confidered thefe cafes as hernia, and have treated them accordingly, to the great and often irreparable injury of the patient.

MEMOIR IV. Obfervations on Aneurisms.

The principal fubject of this memoir is the very curious cafe of Mr. Parker, a pump-maker in Oxford-road, on whom, three

weeks