which did not immediately relate to Chriftianity, their minds fhould be ftrongly influenced by prejudices, which they had imbibed in their earlieft infancy.

Other reflections, which occurred to us on reading this dif course, we forbear to make; becaufe, fince its publication, we have been informed that a gold medal has been awarded to the author, by Teyler's Theological Society, for a differtation, in which he has very amply inveftigated this fubject; and of which, when published, we hope to lay an account before our readers.

Son.

ART. XIII. Uitlegkundig Woordenboek, &c. i. e. An Explanatory
Dictionary of the New Teftament. By G. HESSELINK, A. M.
Profeffor of Divinity and Philofophy, in the Society of Baptifts,
in Amfterdam. Vol. I. 8vo. pp. 340. Amfterdam. 1790.
THE
'HE defign and execution of this work merit our warmest
approbation; it is an improvement on one of the fame
kind, publifhed fome years ago, in German, by M. Teller;
and we cannot help thinking that a book on a fimilar plan
would be both acceptable and useful in England. Only the
first volume is yet publifhed: but in this, the Dictionary is
carried down to the letter H; and as the ingenious author ap-
pears to aim at as much concifenets as is confiftent with per-
fpicuity, it is probable the whole will be comprifed in three
volumes of a very moderate fize. The words are arranged
according to their alphabetical order in the Dutch language;
of each, the original Greek word is added, its general figni-
fication judicioully explained, the feveral fenfes in which it is
ufed by the facred writers are carefully diftinguifhed, and the
paffages mentioned, in which it ftands. The author's fenti-
ments are liberal and moderate; and his manner is candid and
impartial. He confines his obfervations to the plain and obvi-
ous fenfe of fcripture, and endeavours to avoid the difcuffion
of controverfial points of theology: where his own opinion is
different from that of other expofitors, he gives it with great
modeity, and leaves the reader to make his own choice. In
fhort, every friend of rational Chriftianity will think the world
obliged to M. HESSELINK for his judicious attempt to facili
tate the study of the New Teftament. As a fpecimen of the
Profeffor's manner, we fhall add what he fays concerning a
certain perfonage, once greatly feared by the laity, but whofe
dominion over mankind, like the ecclefiaftical authority, by
which he was fuppofed to be controuled, feems to be now
on the decline:

• DEVIL is derived from the Greek words, which fignifies an adversary, falfe accufer, flanderer, betrayer. It was thewn

under

under the word DEMONIAC, that the Greek terms, dar and deBoños are, by our tranflators, fuppofed to be fynonymous, and injudiciously rendered by the word devil; whereas demons, according to the philofophy of that age, were fuppofed to be evil fpirits, which entering into the bodies of men, were the caufe of violent and incurable difeafes: but in the writings of the New Teftament, the word as is never used in the plural number to fignify evil fpirits, nor is there any mention made of devils. The plural of this noun eccurs only three times, viz. in 1 Timothy iii. 11. 2 Timothy iii. 3. and Titus ii. 3. where it means flanderers, or false accalers; and thus cur tranflators have, in these places, very properly rendered it. In this fenfe we think the fingular number ought to be understood in Ephef. iv. 27. Neither give place to the devil, i. e. give not the calumniator a pretence to fpeak ill of you: the fame may be obferved of 1 Timothy iii. 6, 7. and of John vi. 7. One of you is a devil, i, e. a betraver. It muft, however, be acknowleged that, by the word devil, the Jews meant an invisible evil fpirit, to whole agency they afcribed the moral corruption of mankind. Those who have inquired into the opinions of the ancients, have taken great pains to investigate the origin of this, which, in the time of our Saviour, feems to have been univerfally prevalent. We certainly do not difcover it in the Old Teftament; for no traces of this notion are to be found in any bocks of the Jews written prior to the Babylonifh captivity. They who fuppofe the ferpent in Paradife to have been the devil, build their hypothefis on later explanations; nor does the agent, introduced in the beginning of the book of Job, at all coincide with the common and more modern notions of the devil. In later times, the idea of a devil, or evil spirit, endeavouring to feduce mankind into vice and mifery, became very general. Concerning the truth or falsehood of this notion, we shall not decide: on the one hand, it is certain that its origin cannot be afcribed to revelation: but it is equally fo, on the other, that our Divine Mafter and his Apottles never thought fit to oppofe it as erroneous.'

For fome farther ideas on this fubje&, see our extract of the article DÆMON, from Bell's Pantheon, Review for April laft, P. 439 of this volume.

THE

ART. XIV. Oeuvres Poflumes, &c. i e. Polthumous Works of
the Abbé DE MABLY. Vol. I. 8vo. 350 Pages. Paris. 17,0.
HE French politicians have, for fome years paft, occafion-
ally employed their pens, perhaps rather officiously, in
cenfuring the conduct of foreign governments, and in planning
conftitutions for other nations. Such legislative talents may
now find full employment at home; and we heartily with they
may have wildom fuflicient to establish a conftitution, in which
order, as well as liberty, may be fecured by equitable laws,
enforced with vigour and obeyed with punctuality: for with-

out

Sow.

out these beft guardians of freedom, it will be of little avail to reftrain regal, or to abolish aristocratical power; and the humiliation of one tyrant will only pave the way for the exaltation of others :-but, whatever may be the ultimate event of the late revolution in France, the fubject of the volume before us fuits the prevailing taste of the times, and will therefore be read with avidity; though the country, to which it relates, is no longer the principal object of the public attention. The chief article of its contents is, an effay on the government and laws of Poland; the first part of which was written in the year 1770, and addreffed to Count Wielborfki, then minifter plenipotentiary from the confederates of Bar to the court of France. It contains many judicious remarks on the vices inherent in the conftitution of the Polish republic, and propofes a plan of government, which the Abbé imagined would restore liberty, order, and happiness, to that diftracted country. The fecond part was written in the year 1771, and is taken up with replies to the objections which had been urged against the conftitution that the author had propofed. From a hint given in the preface, we are led to fuppofe that the effay was published foon after it was written: but as we do not find that it was mentioned in our Review, it is probable that the author's name might be fuppreffed, and the work not generally known: however this may be, the editors affure us that it has been so amply corrected and enlarged, that it may be confidered as a new performance.

We fhall not detain our readers, by entering into a particular account of the contents of this effay: but, as fome of them may be curious to know what kind of conftitution our modern Lycurgus would form for the government of Poland, in order to compare it with that which he propofed for America*, or with that which the National Affembly is now endeavouring to establish in France, we fhall give a fhort sketch of his plan, fo far as it relates to the diftribution of the fupreme legiflative and executive authority.

He advises the confederates to begin by rendering their country entirely independent of its ambitious neighbours, and efpecially of the Ruffians, with whom they ought to renounce all connection, and to refufe even benefits from a power which, in its apparent kindness, has no other view than to enflave them. An alliance with the Turks, then at war with the Emprefs, he points out as the only means of emancipating Poland from the influence of the Ruffian court. This dependence he justly afcribes to the anarchy which prevailed in the republic

See Review, vol. lxxi. p. 371.

itfelf:

itfelf; and this, he observes, was originally occafioned by entrufting its kings with an extent of power inconfiftent with the liberty of the nation; the exertion of which gave rise to continual fufpicion on one fide, and to a tenacious obftinacy on the other; till a feparation, and at length an oppofition, took place between the interefts and views of the king and of the ftate, by which the government loft its vigour, and the laws their energy. The king, having the domains and dignities of the republic at his difpofal, was fupported in his defigns. by all those with whom intereft or ambition had a greater inAuence, than the real welfare of their country: hence confederacies became neceffary, as the only means of preventing defpotifm but thefe, though they might perhaps effect the immediate purpose for which they were made, introduced habits of civil difcord and violence. When the votes of the members of the diet became venal,-in order to prevent the liberty of the nation from being facrificed by a corrupt majority in these affemblies, the liberum veto was established, by which any fingle deputy could, whenever he might think fit, fufpend all the proceedings of government: but this expedient, adapted to preferve the republic from regal tyranny, was productive of the equally dreadful evils of anarchy and confufion.

As a remedy for thefe inconveniencies, the author propofed a conftitution, in which the executive fhould be entirely feparated from the legislative authority; the former being confined to the king and fenate, the latter to the equeftrian order, affembled in the general diet: but this latter, inftead of being convoked by a particular act, was to have regular and fixed terms of feffion, which, together with the place in which it should meet, ought to be ascertained by the fundamental laws of the conftitution. The Abbé would have this affembly confift of an equal number of deputies from each of the thirtythree palatinates, or provinces of the republic, fo that the whole fhould not amount to more than feven hundred members. The perfons and characters of thefe deputies fhould be deemed inviolable; and no man fhould be eligible as a representative before he is full thirty years of age. Each palatinate, according to his plan, ought to have only one vote, which must be determined by the majority of its deputies; who, for this purpose, muft deliberate on the business in a feparate affembly, and afterward deliver their fuffrage in the diet by their fyndic or prefident. The first bufinefs of a new diet. fhould be to elect a marfhal, and to impofe an oath of fidelity. to the fundamental laws of the republic on each of the members. After this, the requifitions and memorials of the king APP. REV. VOL. IV.

PP

and

and the fenate fhould be the objects of their attention: thefe fhould be publicly read, and then referred for examination to a committee of two deputies from each province. Befide this, the Abbé recommends the inftitution of four committees, each confifting of a deputy from every palatinate, in order to examine the propofals made by the feveral provinces: the prefidents of all these committees fhould be nominated by the marfhal of the diet; and, when their reports are drawn up, they ought, with all the papers relative to them, to be lodged in the records of the diet, and be open to the infpection of thofe deputies who may wish for particular information concerning them. For this, he thinks, a week fhould be allowed; after which the business may be debated in the diet, when each deputy fhould have a right of oppofing or defending it, as he judges proper. The deputies of each palatinate fhould then affemble feparately, and be allowed a week to refolve on their provincial votes; and, by the majority of thefe, the propofal fhould either be rejected, or folemnly established as a law. The Abbé was very defirous of entirely abolishing the veto: but as he apprehended this would be too violent an oppofition to the current of national prejudice, he propofed that the right of pronouncing this awful word, inftead of being committed to individuals, fhould be confined to the reprefentation of each province collectively; and that, for this purpose, an unanimity of opinion among its deputies fhould be requifite.

After laying down his plan for the conftitution of the general diet, the author proceeds to that of the dietines, or provincial affemblies. To infpire thefe with fuch an attachment to the legislative diet, as fhall produce a willing fubmiffion to its authority, is juftly inculcated as an object of the first importance. For this purpofe, the Abbé would conciliate their affections, by rendering them, in their feveral provinces, the depofitaries of the laws; by giving them a right of proposing to the diet, by their deputies, fuch regulations as they conceive to be useful to their country; and by making them, when affembled, the fupreme judicial courts in their respective palatinates. He would have the anticomitial distines, i. e. those in which the deputies to the National Affembly are elected, and receive their inftructions, always meet a month before the general diet; and he recommends the diftribution of them into committees, for tranfacting the feveral departments of business. If an anticomitial dietine fhould diffolve itself, before the election and inftruction of its deputies are completed, M. Dɛ MABLY thinks, that the great officers of the province should be confidered as its reprefentatives in the diet; and he imagines that