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* and Hebrew idioms, must want a [ftrict] claffical propriety: • however, as he expresses himself with a natural and unaffect⚫ed fimplicity, his language agrees with the character of an hiftorian, as well as with the dignity of his fubject; which was incapable of receiving any additional luftre from the • ornaments of language.'-As to St. Mark's gospel, there seems to have been a general belief, that it was composed with the approbation of St. Peter, foon after the publication of St. Matthew's, probably about the 10th or 12th year from our Saviour's afcenfion. And tho' fome have pretended that it was wrote originally in Latin, yet our author brings sufficient proof of its being really composed in the Greek tongue, and produces undeniable evidences of its being universally acknowledged as genuine and authentic by the primitive church. In speaking of St. Luke's gospel he endeavours to prove, that it was composed under the eye and direction of the apostle Paul, who either furnished the materials, or gave a fanction, to the compofure, by his approbation and affent. As to the character of his stile, tho' St. Luke is generally allowed to write more correctly than the other evangelists, yet Mr. Cockburne thinks his stile not less chargeable with Syriac idioms than theirs. And adds, that' perhaps it was not poffible to express ⚫ the ideas of the fynagogue, or the doctrines of Chriftianity, ⚫ with a classical propriety.'-That this gofpel is genuine, is proved by references to fome of the oldest authors of the church, who have mentioned it under that character.

The gospel of St. John is shewn to have been wrote as a fupplement to the other three; one reason for which was, to fupply the omiffions of the other evangelifts;-another, ' that ⚫ he might oppose the authority of an apoftle to the herefies • of Ebion and Cerinthus, who had degraded our Saviour into

a mere man. For these reasons, the gofpel of St. John may be juftly confidered as a fupplement to the other evangelifts, • both as it contains a narrative of several facts, not mentioned in the preceding gospels, but especially as it represents to us the divinity of Jesus Christ in the strongest expreffions.'At a time when our Lord was fo openly attacked in his di'vinity, this evangelift thought it proper to affert it in such • express terms * as cannot be easily evaded, while he affirms ' that he was the author of nature, by whom all things were made; and that having had an existence previous to his † appearance in the fiesh, was a partaker with his father of ⚫ that incommunicable glory which only belonged to the Deity."

* Vid. John i. 1, 2. 3.-х. 30. 38.-xii. 45.
+ Jobni. 13-viii. 58.-xvii. 5.

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• That this gospel was the genuine production of John the apostle, we have the teftimony of fome of the earliest writers ⚫ of the church, as Justin Martyr, Irenæus *, and Clemens of • Alexandriat. In fine, Julian the apoftate ‡ ascribes it to

St. John, at the fame time that he accuses him of introducing a new doctrine into the Christian religion about the deity ' of Christ.

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After producing several arguments in support of the inspiration of the evangelifts, our author confiders the morality of their character; and observes, that if we view them in the light of moral writers, we shall find they have delivered the best lefsons of virtue in the easiest manner. He concludes this part of his argument with an amiable picture of genuine religion, as drawn in the gospels; - Religion here shews nothing of that unbecoming appearance, which it too often receives from the ⚫ faults and imperfections of its votaries; it is neither foured by uncharitable zeal, nor wears the aspect of unreasonable severity; the features are not aggravated by rage, nor • deadened by affectation. It neither evaporates in enthusiaf<tic fervours, nor finks into an unnatural and splenetic ab• straction from the world; nor are plain truths here wrapped up in the puzzling and studied dress of philofophical < bombaft.'

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In treating of the Acts of the apostles, our author makes fome general observations on that history; shews, that it affords a convincing argument of the truth of our religion, and the certainty of Christ's refurrection.-He observes also, that this hiftory of the apostles represents the church of Chrift in a very different light from that in which it is exhibited by fome later ecclefiaftical writers. And lastly, produces evidences from the most antient fathers, to shew that the Atts were universally acknowledged as genuine.

Our author next proceeds to give an historical account of St. Paul's epistles; observing, that those thirteen, which carry his name, have, in all ages, been owned as the genuine productions of this apostle, and are of universal use to Chriftians in all ages, as several points of Christian doctrine are particularly explained in them. He takes notice, that these epiftles are not placed in a chronological order, nor is it easy now to ascertain the particular time and occafion of writing them. However, he enters into a general character of St. Paul's writings, and has fome remarks on the obfcurity of his stile: but for fatisfaction in these, and feveral other points, we must

* Iren. lib. 3. cap. 1.

+ Clem. Alex. apud Eufeb. hist. Ecclef. lib. 6. eap. 14.
‡ Ap. Cyrill. Alexand. lib. to. cont. Julian edit, spanb.
REVIEW, July 1755.

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refer to the book itself; wherein the reader will find the va rious opinions of different critics fairly stated, and clearly explained. In speaking of the fix particular epistles of St. Paul, (treated of in this volume) he gives a short view of the general tendency, and chief argument of each; in the last of which he feems rather to have collected the substance of what has been already faid by others, than to have advanced much that is new of his own. However, the work appears to be a judicious compendium of what has been written by authors of note upon the books of the New Testament, thrown into one general view, and confcquently of use to all who have not leisure to confult the numerous volumes published by others, upon the same subject.

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ART. III. The Chevalier Goddard's Translation of Gucciardini's History of the Wars in Italy. Vol. V. and VI. [See Review, vol. XII. p. 200.]

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UCH readers as are delighted with accounts of fieges and battles, and scenes of violence and devastation, may, in these two volumes, find ample matter for their gratification. The flames kindled by the ambition of Pope Julius II. and nourished by his intrigues and obstinacy, raged with unequalled impetuosity, till they had well nigh consumed their author: after having invited the French to afsist him in humbling the Venetians, he grew equally impatient to expell the former out of Italy; to which purpose he became a friend to the latter; a friendship of very little service to them, for it appears that their preservation was principally owing to their own conftancy and resolution. France and her allies fucceeded in almost every attempt, and even when deferted by her confederates, obtained a fignal victory over the united forces of Rome, Spain, and Venice. But this victory was attended with confequences more unhappy to the conquerors than to the vanquished; the French loft a great number of men, several principal officers, and, what was more fatal to them, their commander in chief, the famous Gafton de Foix, who was killed in the battle; his death so dispirited the whole army, that instead of pursuing their success, (which, if they had immediately followed with vigour, would probably have made them masters of Rome and all Italy) they supinely suffered the enemy to recover from the furprize their defeat had caused, and to collect and recruit their scattered troops, till they were enabled to drive the late victors out of most of their poffeffions on that fide the Alps, which was effected with as much rapidity on the one part, as they had been obtained on the other.

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In the course of these transactions several remarkable occur

rences intervened; particularly the defection of fome cardinals from the pope. They, spirited up by the emperor and the king of France, convoked a general council at Pifa, with design to depose his holiness: but no bishops attending, except a few French and Milanese, this council was obliged to remove to Milan, where they met with but a very indifferent reception from the populace: wherefore they shortly after went to Lyons, but did nothing of moment. In the mean while, Julius excommunicated all the members of that council, and their adherents, and summoned another, that was to affemble at Rome the ift of May, 1512; which year was also diftinguished by two other fingular events: the Medici reassumed their authority in Florence, from whence they had been expelled in in 1494*; and Maximilian Sforza, the son of Ludovico t was put in poffeffion of the ducal dignity of Milan. In the preceding year our noble historian entered on his first public employment, being appointed by the republic of Florence ambaflador to Ferdinand, king of Arragon.

The French having retired out of Italy, the confederates difagreed among themselves; old alliances were diffolved, and new ones made. The pope's thirst of power was infatiable; he meditated no less than the dominion of all Italy, and the conquest of the kingdom of Naples; however, death interrupted the execution of his projects, on the 22d of February, 1513. His character is thus drawn by our judicious author:- He ' was a prince of inestimable courage and conftancy, but im• petuous and boundless in his conceptions; which would have ⚫ carried him headlong to his own ruin, had he not been suf⚫tained more by the reverence of the church, the discord of • princes, and the condition of the times, than by his own moderation or prudence. He would certainly have been ' worthy of the highest honour, had he been a fecular prince, • or employed the fame ardour and vigilance, with which he • prosecuted the advancement of the church in temporal great⚫ ness by the force of arms, in promoting her progress towards • purity and spiritual perfection, by the milder arts of peace. • His memory, however, is most dear and honoured, above ⚫ that of all his predecessors; especially by those who, having ⚫ loft the true nature of things, and confounded the diftinction ⚫ that arifes from weighing them in a just balance, think it ⚫ more the duty of pontiffs to increase the empire of the apof⚫ tolic see by arms and the blood of Christians, than to strive

* See Review, vol. I. p. 25.

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+ Ibid. p. 194.

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• and labour, by the example of a good life, and by correcting • and healing a degeneracy and corruption of manners, to promote the falvation of those souls, for whose benefit they boaft that Christ has constituted them his vicars upon earth." Julius was succeeded in the papacy by the Cardinal de Medici, who assumed the name of Leo X. Thơ' he was promoted to this dignity at a very early age, being no more than thirty-seven years old; yet his election gave a general fatisfaction to all Europe, as he had the reputation of being chaste, liberal, and good-natured: nevertheless, in most of his conduct he appears irresolute, infincere, and continually temporizing; ever engaging in new negotiations, and steady to none. The Venetians had been deferted by his predecessor, and were driven to the utmost distress by the emperor; neceffity induced them to enter into a confederacy with Lewis XII. who made an attempt to reinstate himself in Italy, and in the space of one month both won and lost the whole dutchy of Milan. But notwithstanding this disappointment, he was not less intent upon recovering his Italian territories; wherefore, having concluded a peace with our Henry VIII. (who had been prevailed on by the intrigues of his father-in-law, Ferdinand, to invade France) he made great preparations for that purpofe, but did not live to carry his design into effect: his death happened on the first day of the year 1515, when he was fucceeded in his kingdom by Francis I. who also affumed the title of Duke of Milan; which dutchy he effectually reduced, after having defeated, in a pitched battle, the Swiss, till then deemed, in a manner, invincible. Sforza was forced to refign his perfon and pretenfions to the will of the conqueror; this event was followed by a general peace, to which the decease of Ferdinand, king of Arragon, contributed not a little; this prince died in January 1516, at Madrid, then an obscure village. Our author ascribes to him ' most excellent wisdom and va'lour;' and further observes, 'that if he had made confcience ⚫ of keeping his promises, he would hardly have left room for < censure.' Indeed his little regard to good faith was expeperienced by all who had any concerns with him, and by no one more than his fon-in-law. By this peace the Venetians regained their former poffeffions.

In this summary view of the substance of these two volumes (the laft of this work yet published) we have avoided entering into a minute detail of the incidents, which are very numerous, and fome of them really interesting; but, at the fame time, they are so intimately connected with others of less moment, that to have taken notice of all would have extended

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