church, in the middle of the city; and, including the cathedral and gardens, is about three miles in circumference. The buildings are neither grand nor elegant: there is, however, a good market-house, over which are rooms, where the mayor, aldermen, and other members, tranfact the bufinefs of the corporation. Here is a goal for criminals, and a gallows is erected in a place called Wine-cheap, on account of a wine-market formerly kept there.

The cathedral church of this city was partly built in the time of the Romans, by Lucius, the first Chriftian king of the Britons, who continued to worship here till they were driven beyond the Severn by the Danes; but about the year 600, when Ethelbert, king of Kent, was converted to Christianity by St. Auftin, he gave him this church, together with his palace, and the royalty of the city and its territories, upon which the archiepifcopal fee was removed hither from London. This cathedral being now become the metropolitan church, Austin immediately repaired and confecrated it by the name of Chriftchurch. In the year 1011, the Danes rifled and burnt the cathedrál, together with the reft of the city; but king Canute caufed it to be repaired, and prefented his crown of gold to it. It did not, however, long maintain its beauty; for in the year 1043, it was greatly defaced by fire. Afterwards Lanfranc, who was archbishop of this fee in the reign of William the Conqueror, rebuilt it, together with the archiepifcopal palace, and dedicated it anew to the honour of the Holy Trinity; but in the reign of Henry I. it was dedicated again, in the prefence of the king and queen, David king of Scotland, and many of the bishops and nobility of both kingdoms, by the name of Chrift-church. In i 1174, it was again deftroyed by fire, but was

begun to be rebuilt in the reign of king Stephen, though not compleated till that of Henry V.

It is a noble gothic pile of building, five hundred and fourteen feet long, feventy-four in breadth, and eighty feet in height from the area to the nave of the canopy, in the form of a cross, with a lofty stone tower in the centre, two hundred and thirty-five feet high. This tower is very beautiful, but the tower and fpire at the west end are very mean.

Before the reformation, this cathedral had no less than thirty-feven altars; and here lie interred the body of Henry IV. and his queen Joan, befides thofe of fix other kings: thofe of Edward the Black Prince, and other princes, cardinals, archbishops, St. Auflin, and the feven following bishops who fucceeded him, namely Laurentius, Mellitus, Juftus, Honorius, Deufdedit, and Theodofius: these are all interred in one vault.

But the glory of this church was the fhrine of Thomas á Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, who was murdered near the high altar in the year 1171. This fhrine was fo rich by continual offerings made to it by feveral ages, that the celebrated Erafmus, who faw it, tells us that not only the fhrine itself, but even the chapel in which it was placed, and to which there was an afcent from the choir, glittered all over with jewels of inestimable value; and that through the whole church there appeared a profufion of more than royal fplendour. Gold was

one of the meanest treasures of this fhrine; and Barnard, in his hiftory, obferves, that at the general diffolution of religious houfes, the plate and jewels belonging to this tomb filled two large chefts, each of which requred eight men to remove it. The metropolitan chair is of grey marble, and itands behind the altar. The cloilers have nothing in them remarkable; but C2

near

near them is a very large chapel, called the Sermon houfe, wainfcoted with Irifh oak. To this cathedral belong a dean, an archdeacon, twelve prebendaries, fix preachers, fix minor canons, fix fubftitutes, twelve lav-clerks, ten chorifters, two mafters, fifty fcholars, and twelve almfmen.

Underneath the cathedral is a large church of foreign proteftants, given firft by queen Elizabeth to the Walloons, who fled from Artois, and other provinces of the Netherlands, from the perfecution of the duke de Alva. This congregation has fince been very much increased by numbers of Proteftants, who were driven from France, in the reign of Lewis XIV.

The clofe, in which the dean and prebendaries have their houses, is very fpacious, and the buildings elegant. It is full of religious ruins; and in one of the corners of it are the walls of a chapel, faid to have been a Chriftian temple before the time of St. Auftin; to have been confecrated by him, and dedicated to St. Pancras. Near it is a little room, fuppofed to have been Etheldred's Pagan chapel.

Befides the cathedral, here are fixteen parish churches, but neither has any thing remarkable, except St. Martin's, which is faid to have been St. Auftin's firft fee, and the place whither king Etheldred's queen used to repair to divine fervice, before that monarch was converted to Chriftianity. It is built chiefly of Roman brick; and in the middle of the church is a large old fashioned font, faid to be that in which king Etheldred was baptized. With regard to the church of St. Mary-caftles, the chancel only is now ftanding, though there is fill an incumbent prefented and inducted to it.

Near the cathedral is a freefchool, called the king's fchool, befides which, there are three charity fchools for fifty-eight boys and

fixty-fix girls. Here are alfo seven hofpitals, one of which, called Bridewell, is both a houfe of correction, and a place where the boys of poor citizens are received. Here is a fumptuous conduit erected by archbishop Abbot, who died in the year 1533, and is of great benefit to the city.

Canterbury was furrounded with ftrong walls. Here was alfo a caftle, fuppofed to have been built by the Saxons; the decayed bulwarks of which ftill appear on the fouth fide of the city.

King Ethelbert by perfuafion of St. Auftin, founded, in the year 605, a noble monaftery here, and dedicated it to St. Peter and St. Paul. Two gates of this monaftery ftill remain, and are both very stately.

Near the remains of this monaftery is a vaft angular piece of a tower, above thirty feet high, which has been undermined by digging away a courfe at bottom, in order to throw it down; but happened only to force it out of its perpendicular direction, and it now ftands in a declining pofition.

Without the northgate of the. city, Lanfranc, archbishop of Canterbury, founded about the year 1084, an hofpital for poor, infirm, lame, and blind men and women. It was dedicated to St. John the Baptift, and endowed with feventy pounds per annum. It was governed by a prior, and its revenues were valued, upon the diffolution, at ninety-three pounds fifteen fillings. It is fill in being, and contains a matter, reader, eighteen inbrothers, twenty in-fifters, and the like number of out-brothers and out-fifters. The revenues amount, in the whole, to one hundred and ninety-five pounds, eight fhillings, and nine-pence per annum. was alfo a priory of Dominican, or Black-friars, founded, according to fome writers, about the year 1221, by king Henry III. There are ftill fome remains of this convent.

Here

Simon

Simon de Langton, archdeacon of Canterbury, founded, in the parish of St. Margaret, about the year 1243, an hospital for poor, infirm, and aged priests. At the diffolution, it was valued at twentyeight pounds fixteen fhillings and a penny per annum; but continued undiffolved till the seventeenth year of the reign of queen Elizabeth, when being furrendered up; the queen granted it with all its lands and appurtenances to the mayor and commonality of the city, for the ufe of the poor, and the fite of it is now their Bridewell.

The foreign Proteftants, who have been allowed to fettle in this city, have been of great advantage to the place; they brought over with them the art of weaving broad filks, which have fuffered many changes and alterations, but is ftill carried on to fome account. But what adds moft to the advantage of Canterbury, is the hop-grounds fituated all round the city, to the amount of feveral thoufand acres.

Canterbury fends two members to parliament, has two weekly markets, on Wednesday and Saturday; befides a market toll, free every Wednesday, for hops; and an annual fair on the twentieth of September for toys.

HISTORY

OF THE JEWISH RELIGION.

1. THE ANTIENT JEWS.

SECT. III. OF THE MOSAICAL

DISPENSATION.

OON after the Jews, or children of Ifrael, were delivered from Egyptian flavery, Mofes, their leader, delivered them a law which he received from God upon mount Sinai. This law was delivered in the most marvellous, and miraculous manner, and confifted of precepts relating to their duty both to God and each other; but fuch were the

corrupt notions of thofe people, that while Mofes remained in the mount, they actually made to themselves the image of a golden calf, which they worshipped as the true God; and this was done in imitation of what they had feen in Egypt. They danced and fung round the idol till the holy meffenger of God returned from the mount, and then they were chastifed for their difobedience. It was therefore neceffary, that many rights and ceremonies fhould be obferved by that people, who feem to have been hard-hearted and ftiffnecked from the beginning. The moft diftinguishing of all their ceremonies was that of circumcifion, and this was always performed on the eighth day after the birth to distinguish them from fome of the heathens, particularly the defcendants of Iihmael, who made it a fixed rule to circumcife their children in the 13th year. The feventh day of the week was to be kept facred; but this was no more than the revival of an ancient inftitution, as appears from Genefis ii. fices were enjoined to point out the neceffity of the great facrifice which the Divine Redeemer was to offer up in his own perfon on the crofs. A diftinction was made between clean and unclean animals which feems to have been rather political than religious; 'for had fwines' flesh been eaten in the wilderness, or even in the land of Canaan, it might have been prejudicial to their health. It is true, another reafon has been assigned for this prohibition; namely, to make a diftinction between them and all other nations in the universe.

Sacri

At the celebration of their great folemnities, perfons were to bring the victim to the priest, who laid his hand upon its head, and then read over to the congregation aloud, all the fins which the parties confeffed. The victim was then flain, and when all the blood was extracted

from

from the body, the fat was burnt to afhes, and the other parts remained the property of the priefts. During the time the children of Ifrael remained in the wilderness they had no temple, because they had then no fixed place of refidence, but to fupply that deficiency, God commanded Mofes and Aaron to make an ark, or tabernacle, which was carried by the Levites from place to place. However, during that time, Mofes drew up for them a body of laws, dictated by unerring wifdom, than which we find that nothing could be more confiftent with the divine attributes, or more fuitable to the genius or interests of the people.

But of all the ceremonies imposed on the Jews, none ferves more to point out the notion of an atonement by the blood of Chrift, than that of the "Scape Goat." This ceremony was performed once in every year, and it was done in the following

manner:

their

The goat was taken to the tabernacle, and in the hearing of all the people, the priest read a lift of the fins which had been confelfed. The people acknowledged guilt, and then, taking the scroll he fixed it upon the goat, who was immediately conducted to the wildernefs, and never more heard of. This being over, the meffengers returned, and then the people received abfolution. This ferved to point out, that the fins of men were to be laid upon Chrift, the promised Meffiah, who was to remove them for ever, and finally bring in an everlasting righteoufnefs. The law delivered by Mofes to the Jews, and which was given under the faction of divine authority, contained not only directions for the manner in which facrifices were to be offered, and indeed the whole fervice, firit of the tabernacle, and then of the temple; but likewife a complete fyftem of moral precepts, nay morality itself; whe

ther we apply the word to Ethics Economics, or Politics. The di ftinctions of perfons, according to their different ranks in life, were clearly pointed out; women were not permitted to wear the fame habit as the men, for this plain reafon, that had the different fexes been permitted to drefs indifcriminately, many dangerous, and even fatal confequences would have taken place; nay it might have happened, that the most unnatural crimes would have been committed; and the God of order, who feeks to promote the happiness of his creatures, would have been blafphemed as the author of fin. Young perfons were commanded to stand up in the most reverend manner before the aged, and to treat them with every mark of respect. This was confiftent with the first principles of natural religion; for the refpect we owe to the aged, points out the duty we are bound to difcharge to that glorious Being, by whofe wifdom we were formed, by whofe goodness we have been preferved, and by whofe grace we have been redeemed from the power and guilt of fin.

Their law was to be of an uniform nature, and the fame juftice was to be done to ftrangers as to free-born fubjects. No tranger was to be chofen king over them, for this reafon, that as they were furrounded by heathen nations, fo a ftranger having the civil power in his hands, might have led them into idolatry. They were permitted to lend money to ftrangers upon ufury, but when they lent any thing to their brethren, nothing befides the principal was to be demanded. They were commanded not to abhor, nor treat with contempt the Edomites, becaufe they were the defcendants of Efau, the

elder brother of Jacob. Thefe Edomites were a circumcifed people, and although in latter times, we find them commencing idolaters, yet, in confequence of

their

their defcent from Abraham, and the tendernefs which Efau himfelf fhewed to Jacob, they were to be treated as brethren. Nor were they to treat the Egyptians with cruelty for the following reafons: First, their ancestors had been once tenderly treated by the Egyptians. Secondly, the children of Ifrael had been kept in a fevere ftate of bondage by thofe people. The confideration of the firft, was to keep alive in their minds fentiments. of gratitude. The fecond, to humanize their natures, by teaching them charity, benevolence, compaffion, mercy, and all thofe other virtues which adorn the human mind, and make men ornaments of civil fociety.

Slavery was permitted by the law of Mofes, but flaves or bondfmen were not to be treated with cruelty; and the reafon affigned was, that the children of Ifrael had themfelves been flaves in the land of Egypt. Every widow, and every orphan, were to be confidered as objects of compaflion; and thofe who treated them with cruelty, were

to be confidered as objects of divine difpleasure. Nay, it was further threatened in this divine law, that thofe who oppreffed the widow or fatherlefs, fhould die an ignominious death; that their widows fhould be expofed to want, and their children fubjected to all the hardfhips of an injurious world.

The duty of charity was ftrongly inculcated by the Mofaic conomy; for whatever was left of the fruits of the earth, in the field, they were not to go back to gather, it was for the poor and needy: the flaves were to enjoy it, and fo were the widows and fatherlefs. The tribe of Levi, to whom the priesthood was confined, were not to have any local inheritance, but they were to dwell in the prefence of their brethren, and one tenth part of the earth was to be fet afide for their fubfiftence. Thefe Levites, however, were commanded to relieve the widow and fatherlefs; and in confequence of their actions, being in all refpects confiftent with the purity of the divine law, they were either to be acquitted or condemned.

mathematical skill in the cafe? or that this could be effectuated by any other power but that of an intelligent being, who had wifdom and power for fuch a work? Ac-. cording to the reafoning of the ftoic in Cicero, who pleads thus: "If thou fhouldft fee a large and fair houfe, thou couldst not be brought to imagine that houfe was built by the mice and weafels, although thou fhouldit not fee the mafter thereof: fo, faith he, couldit not thou think thyfelf very plainly to play the fool, if thou fhouldit imagine fo orderly a frame of the world, fo great a variety and beauty of the heavenly things, fo prodigious