the world to repent, because the kingdom of heaven (or of God) is at hand. The Redeemer appears. Jefus of Nazareth is proclaimed by a voice from Heaven as the Son, the beloved Son of God, in whom he was well pleafed and he fhortly after begins his miniftry by a public declaration, the time was fulfilled, and that the kingdom of God was at hand. After which he ceafed not to preach, more or lefs openly, the good news that the kingdom of God was come; manifefting himfelf, by his doctrine and by his mighty works, to be the Chrift, the Son of the living God, by whom it was God's pleasure to exercife his fovereign authority in the world. His difciples he sent out before him, to preach this gospel, not with -violence or force of armis (the means by which the kingdoms of this world and the authority of earthly Kings are established), but as sheep among wolves, to declare to the world that the kingdom of God was come, that the time was arrived in which it pleafed Ged no longer to wink at the times of ignorance in which he had fuffered all nations to walk in their oum ways, but that ali men Should repent and believe the gufpel: that is, acknowledge for Lord and Chrifi, for the promifed Redeemer, Jefus of Nazareth, whom the Jews refufed to acknowledge; whom they blafphemed, and at length caufed to be condemned and crucified, as a blafphemer and a mover of fedition, because he made himfelf the Son of God, faying that he himfof was Chrift a King; but whom God hath railed from the dead, and exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, whom the Heaven muji receive ntil the times of reftitution of all things, for to give repentance to Ifrael, who had fo rebelliously rejected and flain the Prince of Life, and, on their repentance, alfo the remiffion of their fins.

Jefus not only by his doctrine and his miracles, but by the good profeffion (as St. Paul terms it) which he witnessed before Pontius Pilate, declared that he was a king, that to this end (to reign as king) he was born, and for that cause he came into the world, to bear witness to the truth. And he declared alfo that his kingdom is not of this world, i. e. that his kingdom did not originate with the world; that, born and manifefted in the world, to reign and to govern the world, it was not from the world that he reed his royal authority, but from ; and that his king was not to

be eftablifhed nor defended, as are the earthly kingdoms of this world, by force and violence; for, had that been the cafe, his difciples would have fought that he fhould not be delivered to the Jews, but that his kingdom is not from hence.

:

:

After his refurrection, Jefus commanded his difciples to go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature: and what gofpel but that which he had fealed with his blood, which he had fo often named the gofpel of the kingdom of Heaven, or of God, and which, before Pilate, he called his own kingdom? And that kingdom is reprefented as to be established on earth. It is on this earth that we are to rise from the dead, when the Lord himself shall defcend with a fhout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God and the dead in Chrift fhall rife firfi. We are taught, according to his promife, to look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteoufnefs and this promife, firft made in the prophecies of Ifaiah, is again reprefented in the 21ft chapter of the Revelations of St. John; to which he adds, And I John jaw the holy city, new Jerufalem, coming down from God. And I heard a great voice out of Heaven faying, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. The fame St. John reprefents the twenty-four Elders, &c. falling down before the Lamb and finging a new fong, faying, Thou art worthy to take the book and to open the Jeals thereof, for thou waft flain and haft redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred and tongue, and people, and nation, and haft made us unto our God kings and pricfis: and we shall reign on the earth.

When we reflect on the condition of our firft parents, in their glorious flate of innocence and happiness, blefled with the communication of their Creator and of his holy angels, bewildered at the thought, who hath powers-fufficient to conceive adequate ideas of it?

When we read the glowing defcriptions (and of thefe there are many both in the Old and New Teftament) of the glory and blifs of the kingdom of our God and of his Chrift, after his fecond coming, after the reftitution of all things, when man fhall be reinstated in the happiness for which, in the benevolent intention of his Maker, he was

created;

created; when all the kingdoms of this world fhall have become the kingdom of our God and of his Chrift, when he thall reign for ever and ever; when morcover we reflect on the certitude of that faying, on the ftability, the immutability, and the veracity of him who hath faid, that whoever fuffers or is prepared to fuffer with him, and for him, ihall alfo reign with him; how can we not exclaim with the holy Apofile, eye hath not feen, nor car heard, nor have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his fpirit.

Chrifi promifes the inheritance of the

earth to the meek: can that beatitude be contradictory to, or different from, the heavenly kingdom which he promifes to the poor in spirit, and to thofe who are perfecuted for righteouncfs ake? And hath he not taught and commanded us (conformably to his injunction, to feck first, or before all things, the kingdom of God) to pray to our heavenly Father, even before we afk of him our daily bread or the forgiveness of our trefpafles, that his name may be hallowed, hon urably diftinguifhed and exalted above every nanie, f that his kingdom may come in fuch wife as that his will may be done on earth a it is in heaven. Who, in this frail mortal ftate, can conceive the blifs, the glory, the exalted happiness, that will be the portion of all who fhall be admited as members of fuch a kingdom! What a change in the heart, in the difpofitions, in the fentiments, in the way of thinking and in the converfation, muft the contemplation of fuch a flate, and the well-founded hopes of participating its happinels, produce in all thole who truly prepare their hearts to fick the Lord, to obey him, and to believe in his word! who feel with the beloved difciple, that even now we are the children of God, and though it doth not yet appear what we shall be, yet we know, that when he fhall appear, we Shall be like unto him; when Chrift Shall appear, then Shall we alfo appear with him in glory.

Hence we perceive the fhare that the focial affections will have in our future happiness; and in our preparation for admiffion into that heavenly kingdom; inafmuch as they will contribute to the order, to the peace, to the joy, to the gratitude, to the unanimity with which the will of God will then be done on warth as it is in heaven. A people pro

perly fo called, a kingdom, more efpecially a kingdom compofed of fubjects fit to form the people of the Lord, of the great, the eternal King, cannot be a congregation of individuals unconnected, infenfible or inattentive to the happiness of each other. Far different are the fentiments every where reprefented as animating thofe bleffed Spirits whofe obedience to the will of God is propofed as our model. But it is only in the kingdom of God, the entrance of which is opened to us by the death and refurrection of Jefus Chrift, and into which he invites us to enter by faith in him, by an obedient acknowledgement of his fovereignty, and by our zeal for promulgating the knowledge of it, regulated according to his precepts, which will be the natural effect of fich faith and obedience, that the focial affections can produce their due effects. To procure us fuch unde feribable felicity by reconciling us to God, Chrift gave himself a facrifice for the fins of mankind: he fhed his blood, he died and rofe from the dead to open the kingdom of heaven to all believers. But, excluded by unbelief and difobedience from his prefence, rejected from his kingdom, what will avail all we call the focial affections? They undoubtedly may exift without Chriftianity. All the word of God fuppofein them in man. If there be a man who knows them not, unhappy is he beyond the common lot of human beings. But fovereignly unhappy alfo are thofe who, poflefling them, are not led thereby to liften to the word of God, to receive, when he is announced to them, Jefus as the Chrift, to acknowledge him openly and joyfully as fuch, to obey and love himn above all things; him in whom is every thing molt benevolent,. moft worthy of our love, of our obedience, and of our firmeft confidence; him who gave himfelf for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works. But what good works, properly fo called, can proceed from the heart that is capable of rejecting Jefus Chrift; of refufing him the juftice due to him, by difbelieving his moft folemn declarations; of refuting to receive and obey him whom God has exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour; to whom every knee fhould bow, and every tongue fhould confefs to be the Lord, to the glory of God the Father?

Yours, &c.

E D.

I

Mr. URBAN,

Jan. 22. WENT to Weftminster Abbey during the holidays with my young folks to fee the monuments; and, though we were hurried through thefe venerable mansions by our too active guide, we had nearly reached our dinner-hour, when, enquiring whether we had teen all, we were told there were foue reliques of antiquity and me models of Gothic architecture difcovered, eighteen months ago, fomewhere in an unexplored cell, or crypt, and which were, by the order of the right rev. the Dean and Chapter, fubmitted to the infpection of the publick. Not having time enough to fee what they were, we deferred the enquiry into them till another opportunity. Yet, in the mean time, I would thank any of your friends to inform us, what they confift of? whence they come? and by what means they were brought to light? Yours, &c. L. B. M. Mr. URBAN,

PERMIT

Chefter, Jan. 12. me to hope, that, when the Imperial Parliament thall have maturely confidered the political interefts of this country, they will turn their attention to the promotion of literature; particularly to that branch which has a powerful influence on the moral character of the nation, I mean the DRAMA. I most carnefily hope, fir, that Mr. Wilberforce, or fome other able and independent member, will ftep forth as the advocate of that injured clafs of writers, DRAMATIC AUTHORS; and emancipate them from the flavery in which they have been fo long held by the managers. To the tyranny of the managers, fir, we may attribute the depraved flate of the flage at this day. They, fir, arrogate to theinfelves the office of Lord Chamberlain; and the Green-room is their Starchamber. But it is not the unfortunate poet only that is fubject to them; the bookfellers too feem to feel and acknowledge their fway; for they, I am told, refufe to print any play that has not been brought out at Drury-lane, or Covent-garden. Thus the publick are deprived of the opportunity of judging of the merit of a piece, until the manager has determined whether or not the reprefentation would be likely to fill his coffers. He firft depraves the talte, then minifters to the vitiated appetite in a manner moft likely to promote his own pecuniary views. Hence the inceflant flow of nonfenfe that in

undates our flage, and pours in torrents from the prefs. I would ask any man of undefiled tafte, if he could read with pleasure, a fecond time, many of the new pieces which are faid, in the titlepage, to have been acted with applaufe at either of the theatres, and I should ́ be certain of being aufwered in the negative. I am not, Mr. Urban, for confining the flage to what are called flockplays. To them I would have occafional recourte; but I would encourage men of real talents to cultivate the dramatic art. And, in order to this, I would propofe, that an author, who had finished a draina which met with the approbation of his friends, fhould commit it-not to the judgement of the manager, but, to the prefs; and, in cafe it fhould be thought worthy reprefentation, any manager who should get it up in the courfe of ten years after publication, without allowing the author the customary benefits, should be liable to an heavy penalty. This would afford the publick an opportunity of judging for themselves, and relieve them from a flavith dependance on the choice of men who only ftudy their own interest. It would also relieve the poet from the mortification of dancing attendance on the manager, and bearing with his contumely. It would ferve too to open a wide field to talents, and probably be the means of faving our finking ftage.

"The greatcft effect of a play in reading (fays Sir Richard Steele,) is to excite the reader to go fee it." If this obfervation be juft, and I think it is, the publication of a play would not leffon the intereft in reprefentation, or blunt the edge of curiofity. And I' am confident, Mr. Urban, that, had fome of the new pieces, which have been lately gotten up at an immenfe expence, been in the hands of the publick before they infinuated themfelves into the green-room, they would never have been reprefented. The intelligent reader will eafily difcover the pieces to which I allude. I fhall not name any of them, as I should be forry to be fuppofed to write under the influence of prejudice or malice. I am equally unacquainted with the managers, and favourite dramatic authors of the day; nor am I a poet myself.

As a farther proof that the tyranny of the London managers fhould be controlled, I fhall beg leave to obferve, that they prohibit the reprefentation of

any

any piece in the provincial theatres that has not been first exhibited in their own houfes. Thus an opportunity is denied of trying the effect of a new piece as it were to a private audience, before it is brought before the grand tribunal of the publick.

There is another object to which I would wish to direct the notice of the Imperial Parliament; I mean the flate of literature in a neighbouring ifland now united to us; an ifland in which, I am forry to fay, that, in defpite of an uncommon brilliancy of talent, an almoft Cimmerian darkness prevails. To remedy this, I hope the united wifdom of the legislature will devife fome fyftem of general education; and I alfo hope, that the duty on books exported from, or imported into, that country, will be either totally abolished, or confiderably reduced; and I truft, that, through the wifdom of the Imperial Parliament, Irish writers will be able to find a market for their productions at home.

From literature, let us pafs for a moment to duelling. Would not the molt effectual method to prevent that barbarous cuftom be, to oblige both parties to take out a licence; and, in cafe of failure, to be liable to a confiderable penalty, perhaps 5001. or 1000l.; befides abiding the ufual confequences in cafe either party fell? This would deter hot-headed young gentlemen from picking quarrels, (to ufe a vulgar phrafe,) and, by occafioning a delay, give time to the parties for cool reflection, or lead to the interpofition of friends. In the hope that the Imperial Parliament will alfo take this hint into confideration, I fhall conclude, Yours, &c. A. R.

Mr. URBAN, Gogmagog-hills, Jan. 8. REFERRING to your Magazine

for laft year, p. 947, on the term, "to fhew the lions," I remark, that, coming from Cambridge two years ago with a wag of Trinity-hall, he invited me, on my return, to dine with him, and added, "we will treat you like a lion." This recalled to my recollection, when a child, our good old parith clerk ufed to refpenfe in the pfalins, "and I was a lion to my mother's children:" hence, I thought the term lion was ufed jocofely for alien, a ftranger, I will treat you like a ftranger or vifitor; you fhall be attended to and taken care of, that kind of care, Mr. Urban, which the alien was fearful of placing

himfelf under amongst a parcel of wags, who might have put the lion under the table.

Qu. Was not Brazenofe-college, Stamford, fuppreffed, in order to tranflate the fcholars to Brazenofe-college, Oxon, founded by Smythe, bishop of Lincoln, temp. Hen. VII.? (See vol. LXX. p. 958.)

CHRONONHOTONTHOLOGOS.

Jan. 3.

Mr. URBAN,
AS you perpetually favour us with

monuments of the great, and churches that deferve recording, in your excellent Repofitory, allow me, through that medium, to request any one of your Bedfordshire correfpondents, or any gentleman that can and will be fo obliging as to fend you (for a Plate) an exact drawing of the incomparably beautiful antique monument of Sir Lodovic Dyer, erected in the noble church of Colmworth, in the county of Bedford. This monument is particularly worthy of obfervation; and the clerk of the parifh informed me, that gentlemen bal frequently made drawings of it, fo that there can be no doubt but that myfelf, and numerous readers of the Gentleman's Magazine, will be gratified in this refpect. The church felf is a noble pile, with a fire that is remarkable for its height. If you could alfo be favoured with a drawing of it, it would be confidered a great acquifition.

Yours, &c. J. H. CARPENTER.

CRITIQUE

VI. Of the Impropriety of Theatrical Reprefentations, as far as they relate to the Scenery, Dreffes, and Decora tions, when brought forward as illuftration of the antient Hiftory of this Country. (Continued from vol. LXX. p. 1268.)

COVENT-GARDEN THEATRE. KING RICHARD THE THIRD. «With new and appropriate Scenery, Drefles, and Decorations. [Performed January 12, 1801.] NOTWITHSTANDING thefe ar rogant pretenfions, witneffed the fame burlefque imitation of our antient architecture, the fame mock fafhions of James the Firft's reign, and the fame abfurd decorations from Fancy's Magazines, as demanded our critique on Richard at Dry-lane theatre; which critique will ferve equally for both houfes in their most prominent features;