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    members of the Establishment have been for ages calling out for some changes , " since the fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning . " - , The last Section of this Part is " Sequel of Jewish History . " To account for Solomon's becoming an idolater in his latter years , Mr . Mitford ventures

    to suggest that he had become deranged ! Various remarks are made in this chapter upon the ritual and civil law of the Hebrews , which will interest the thinking reader . The author ' s political bias appears in what he says on slavery , though be envelopes his meaning in the thickest cloud of his peculiar phraseology . He concludes this division of his book with a declaration which he deems venturous : we leave his style as we find it :

    " At Rome , under the first emperors , Jews were numerous , probably some wealthy , but all , for those called their superstitions , despised . Had I been then educated a heathen there , having before me the Jewish history as delivered in the Septuagint , and therewith all the heathen traditions concerning preceding times of which I have any knowledge , I think I should have accepted the account , in the Old Testament , of the Almighty ' s dealings with man as a very valuable addition to all that had been received among other nations , explaining much , correcting much . Nevertheless I should be

    doubtful of much , as unable to see its consistency with the best human notions of an almighty , all-wise , and all-good Creator : especially the selection of one small nation , from among the unnumbered of mankind , for extraordinary favour , and for promises of peculiar protection on condition of constant obedience ; that nation being acknowledged by its own historians to have been , through a course of centuries , continually refractory , often grossly rebellious ,

    consequently suffering almost all that a nation could suffer short of extinction , yet remaining a separate nation , but in subjection to others , whose religion they were bound by their own to abhor , would be what I might least be able to bring my mind to conceive ; solution , as far as Almighty Wisdom appears to have thought fit for our state of trial , remaining for the next period in the history of the world . "—Pp . 115 , 116 .

    The conclusion of this passage is agreeable to Mr . Mitford ' s favourite theory of explaining all difficulties by man's probationary state , and of referring them to the solution of a future world . Piety in the closet frequently requires the submission of the soul to the hidden decrees of Infinite Wisdom , which eternity only can reveal ; but we more than doubt the propriety of raising objections in ., order to lay them by this charm . In fact , they who can admit the answer have never felt the difficulty . The author has evidently undergone the process of doubt and inquiry , but he has never allowed himself to mingle with doubters and inquirers , or to read their

    works ; and whilst he belongs to this class , he writes for another , for thorough church-goers and believers , who never stumbled at an article of faith or sighed for more evidence . Had he trusted to his own powers of mind , he might-have found reasons for the peculiar calling of the Jewish people , and moral uses in their separation from the nations , which would have satisfied him even in this world ; though undoubtedly in every case of perplexity , and all moral cases are as yet more or less perplexed , it is not unreasonable to believe that there will be a more ample development of the Divine wisdom , and a more complete explanation , for the satisfaction of the human mind , in the state in which " that which is perfect will be come , and

    that which is in part will have been done away . " To this extent , we agree with the author in the sentiment which he haCs quoted from Erasmus , ( in the Second Part of his Observations , the notice of which we must leave to the next Number , ) " We may talk of referring difficulties to the next general council : in my opinion it were better to refer them to that blessed time when we shall see God face to face . ''

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    Review . —Mitford'i Observations on Christianity . 217

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1827, page 217, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1794/page/57/