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been elected Sovereign over the whole Republic, had he not been killed by an assassin hired by the Spanish Ministry.

His son Maurice never attained to so much power, and the understood attempts of his brother-in-law Frederic Henry, were not attended with success. After his decease, five Provinces chose his son William II. for their Stadtholder and Captain General.

The Province of Holland, in 1654, solemnly excluded William III. son to the latter, from the Stadtholdership; yet, in 1672, they so far receded from this act, that this office was settled on him hereditarily, and he held it even after his accession to the Throne of England. At his death the office was not suppressed, but exercised by the States themselves till the year 1747, the provinces of Guelderland, Friezland, and Groeningen, excepted, which, during this interval, elected for their Stadtholder the Prince of Orange, named William Charles Henry Friso, afterwards styled William the Fourth. But in 1747, the French breaking into Dutch Flanders, the city of Tervere, from a sense of the danger which threatened the whole Republic, insisted that the Prince of Orange should be created Stadtholder of Zealand, and the states of the province consenting, the Prince was declared their Stadtholder, and also Captain and Admiral General. This example was soon followed by the provinces of Holland and West Friezland, and thus the Prince became Stadtholder, Captain General, and Admiral, of all the United Provinces. On the 4th of May 1747, the same was formally notified to him by the States General in their assembly, and, immediately after, the Stadtholdership settled on his heirs male, and the females were not excluded from the succession, provided they did not marry the sons of kings or electors. The office of Stadtholder was of great weight, authority, and profit, but the Sovereignty was not annexed to it.

R

INSTANCES OF

RETRIBUTIVE JUSTICE.

ETRIBUTIVE Justice is the consolation of the oppressed, and the terror of the oppressors. If the following facts, which have, I believe, been remarked by De Foe, should fall into the hands of the Convention of France, it may, perhaps, alarm them for their future safety, by showing them, that though, in the language of Juvenal, the anger of the gods may sleep, yet it will not die. The extraordinary coincidence of dates of some of the events, seems to designate the particular crime which provoked the punishment of its perpetrators. The era of these circumstances is the reign of Charles, and the troubles that followed it.

The English parliament called in the Scots to invade their king, and were invaded themselves by the same Scots, in defence of the

king, whose case, and the design of the Parliament, the Scots had

mistaken.

The Parliament which raised an army to depose Charles, was deposed by the army it had raised. This army broke three parliaments, but was at last broken itself by a free Parliament.

Sir John Hotham, who repulsed his Majesty, and refused him admittance into Hull before the war, was seized by the Parliament for which he had done it, on the same 10th day of August two years that he spilled the first blood in that war. His son, Captain Hotham, was executed the 1st of January, which was the day on which he had assisted Sir Thomas Fairfax in the first skirmish with the king's forces at Bramham Moor.

The 6th of August 1641, the Parliament voted to raise an army against the king; the same day and month anno 1648, the Parliament were assembled and turned out of doors by that very same army.

The Earl of Holland deserted the king, who had made him general of horse, and went over to the Parliament. The king sent to him for his assistance on the 11th of June 1641, which the earl refused; and on the 11th of July 1648, seven years after, he was taken by the Parliament at St. Neot's, and beheaded by them on the 9th of March 1649, O. S. on which day, in the year 1641, he had carried the declaration of the Commons, which was filled with reproaches, to the king.

The Parliament voted to approve of Sir John Hotham's resistance, to the king at Hull, on the 28th of April 1641; the day on which, in the year 1600, they first debated in the house the restoration of Charles the Second.

Thus much for the days of Charles; one thing, however, is worthy to be remarked: the charge against the Earl of Strafford, whose death the king lamented all the remainder of his life, was first read in the House of Lords on the 30th of January, six years preceding Charles's own death.

Nor are testimonies of similar occurrences, apparently connected by the same singularity of time, wanting in the earlier reigns, if we may credit the authority whence the preceding dates are derived. Cranmer was burnt at Oxford the same day and month that he gave Henry the VIIIth, the advice to divorce his queen Catherine.

Queen Elizabeth died the same day and month that she resolved, in her privy council, to behead the Queen of Scots; and her successor, James, the same day and month that he published his book against Bellarmine.

The Long Parliament, of which so much has already been said, began the day of the month on which the Parliament that robbed the Romish church of her revenues, and suppressed abbies and monasteries first sate: so that the same day which enriched Henry VIII. was fatal to his successor by the same means. CHRONOLOGUS.

A

THE NEWSPAPER.

"This folio of four pages, happy work!
Which not e'en critics criticise, that holds
Inquisitive attention while I read

Fast bound in chains of silence, which the fair,
Though eloquent themselves, yet fear to break,
What is it but a map of busy life,

Its fluctuations and its vast concerns?

Tis pleasant through the loop-holes of retreat
To peep at such a world. To see the stir

Of the great Babel, and not feel the crowd."

NEWSPAPER is so true a type of the caprice and levity of Englishmen, that it may be stiled their Coat of Arms.-The Turkish Koran is not half so sacred to a rigid Mahometan, a Parish Dinner to an Overseer, a Turtle Feast to an Alderman, or an Election to a Freeholder, as a Gazette is to an English Quidnunc. If this informs him of a Naval Armament, he toasts the Admirals in halfpints a-piece, wishes them success, gets drunk with loyalty, and goes with his head full of 74's, 64's frigates, transports, fireships!-But a Newspaper, whose contents is not sanctioned by authority, is necessarily so much more the receptacle of invention; thence we hear -It is said-A correspondent remarks-Whereas, &c.—all serve to please, surprise, and inform-We bear can alter a man's face as the weather would a barometer. -It is said can distort another like a fit of the spasm.-If can make some cry, while suppose makes others laugh; while a Whereas is like an electrical shock; and though it often runs to the extremity of the kingdom, in unison with the rest, they altogether form a very agreeable mixture. But particular and domestic occurrences form a very essential part of this folio: thus a marriage hurts an old maid, mortifies a young one, while it consoles a poor dejected husband, who is secretly pleased to find another is fallen into his case. A death, if a wife, makes husbands envy the widower, while perhaps some of the women who censure his want of decent sorrow, marry him in a month after!-In fine, every person is put in motion by a newspaper. It is a bill of fare, containing all the luxuries, as well as the necessaries of life. Politics, for instance, have of late been the roast beef of the times-Essays the plumb-pudding, and Poetry the fritters, custard, and all the et cætera of the table, usually denominated trifles. Yet the four winds are not liable to more mutability than the vehicles of these entertainments;-for instance, on Monday it is whispered, on Tuesday it is rumoured, on Wednesday it is conjectured, on Thursday it is probable, on Friday it is positively asserted, and on Saturday it is premature. But notwithstanding this, some how or another, ail are eventually pleased; for as the affections of all are divided among Wit, Anecdote, Poetry, Prices of Stock, the Arrival of Ships, &c. a Newspaper is a repositary where every one has his.hobby-horse; without it, coffee houses, &c. would be depopulated, and the country villages, the Curate, the Exciseman, and many others, lose the golden opportunities of appearing as wise as QUIDNUNC.

A SERMON

PREACHED AT GREENWICH, ON THE FESTIVAL OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST, JUNE 24, 1774,

BEFORE THE

MOST ANCIENT AND HONOURABLE FRATERNITY OF FREE AND ACCEPTED MASONS,

UNDER THE SANCTION OF

HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF ATHOL, G. M.

BY JAMES GRANT, LL. D.

LECTURER AT ST. LEONARD'S, SHOREDITCH, AND VICAR OF KEMPSTON,

IN THE COUNTY OF BEDFORD.

I CORINTHIANS i. 10.

Now I beseech you, Brethren, by the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind, and in the same judgment.

TH

HE best things are liable to the worst corruptions. This was even the fate of Christianity, though taught by the purest teachers, and planted by men divinely inspired. Although its own native excellence and utility were sufficient to recommend it to every candid mind; although it published nothing but what was truly interesting to human happiness, and conveyed such truths as were not only of immediate importance to man, but many others almost as old as creation itself; and though its doctrines, its precepts, its promised rewards, and its threatened punishments, were placed beyond the power of change; yet we find that a love of novelty, an ardent desire of being thought singular, the pride of false learning, and the itch of refinement, were able to produce many contending factions among its professors, and make them forget the benevolent and uniting spirit of that excellent and divine institution, which had been taught them from heaven, and to which, amidst all their broils and contests, they still pretended to adhere.

The city of Corinth, at the time that St. Paul wrote his first epistle, was, like all other large and over-grown cities, filled with inhabitants of various talents, and of as various aims and dispositions. Among those who had adopted the profession of Christianity in that city, were many of the Jewish descent and education, zealously devoted to their ancient customs, and uncommonly anxious to intermix them with the plainer duties, and more simple dictates of the gospel:while, on the other hand, were to be found as many more of the Grecian converts, who, following the deceitful lights of false learning, were most studious of human wit and argument, set off with much art and acuteness, were warmly attached to their pretended wise VOL. IV.

M

men and orators, and expected, by their aid, not only to improve and refine what the Apostle had taught them, but even to learn more true wisdom and virtue than what the gospel was able to convey→ A fatal source of many errors, and of much misconduct among the disciples of Christ in that city! when, forgetting the plain and sacred institutions of his divine word, they blindly gave themselves up to the weak dictates and vain delusions of men. And therefore our Apostle, with all the ardour of true friendship, not only laments the increase of their factions, arising either from a bigotted attachment to the useless rites of Judaism, or from a too fond regard to eloquence and philosophy, which equally tended, in their several degrees, to divert their attention from the main duties and more important interests of Christianity; but he also tenderly exhorts and intreats them to return unto the paths of righteousness and peace, to maintain the essential truths of the gospel, and in every respect to acquit themselves as the genuine and united disciples of their divine Lord and master. I beseech you, said he then to them, and with equal authority this day calls upon us, in the great and sacred name of our Redeemer and Advocate Jesus Christ, to be unanimous in the same general sentiments of divine truth; to adhere with firmness to the same fundamental rules of duty; to be animated by the same temper of charity and love; speaking the same gracious and friendly language, and jointly pursuing the same religious views and worthy. intentions; without any useless disputes about smaller matters, and still more without any hatred or animosity one towards another.

This is the text, and this is the subject, not only adopted by me, but also chosen and approved by my superiors in this society, as highly suitable to the occasion upon which we are now so joyfully assembled. It is a subject which invites us to consider the nature and importance of unity, and those powerful motives by which it may be inforced upon us, as MEN, as CHRISTIANS, and as FREe and ANCIENT MASONS.

To form a just idea of this great and noble virtue of unity, we must observe, that it includeth an intire harmony in judgment, affection, language, and pursuit.

We must study to comprehend the fundamental institutions of that society into which we are admitted, and then exert ourselves candidly to defend and retain them as the pillars and foundations upon which it is established, " by which it is continually supported, upon which every thing else has its main dependence, and without which it cannot subsist. An uniformity of judgment in these essential articles, being that which cements the whole body, unites together all its various parts and members, and forms them into a regular structure, into one uniform building, and adds strength and firmness to the whole."

This unity of judgment will naturally beget an union of heart and affection. What name can be more endearing than that of Brethren ? no closer, no firmer bond of amity and friendship can be imagined, than that of a mutual and sincere love; the true and animating spring