Mr. Hone's Pamphlet.
The Times, 1824-02-25T00:00:00

MIr. }oN E has publishedl a Pamphlet, in answer to the cbarges of irreligion and impiety brought against hiim by certaim Divines of the Church of England. Ve believe that if the mian were to suffer martyrdlom at the stake for his belief in Christianity, the malignity of his enemies is so great, that they would still assert lhe died an infidel . to them, theiefore, hie wvrites in vaiii.. 'Ve subjoin an ex- tract, whicll, in truth, stanids as a note in the original work. It vill supply a specimen of the w1iter's ingeniuousness, as W'ell of his polemica tact andl learning:- "Hotwever little the reviewer may be suspected of veracity, he assutmes a particular veneration for that essential virtue, and tbinks me a Idiscreditable' person. because I suppressed 'the number and names of the several ancient Christiai sects who, T affirm, re- ceived the Gospel of Mary.' Ee says-' On examiinrtion it will be feund that they dwindle down to two-the Gnosties and lilaniche- a.m !' Thisnote' of self-admnration at the ent might have:been, spHree. He actually does not know that Mosheim (Ec&;. .ist. rol. i. v. 134,139) endeavours to account for the ' diversity nf sect6' among the (*nostics. There were upwards of fifty different sects of Gnostics. Hfow miserablv as a reviewer, how scandalously as a. divirne, this critical characterlacks information tnat in eithercapacity should beat his fingers' endo. The reviewer is welcome to all he can gain by having detected an error I fell into concerning Faustus. On transcribing that name from Jones's work, r looked into the edition before tie last ef Wat- kin's very useful Biographical Dicthohary, and findingz that Faustus, a learned Prelate of the fifth century. was a nalive of Britain, and ir 455 became Bishop of Riez, in P:ovence,' &c., I wrote of the Gospel of Mary that ' the ancient copies differed from Jerornc's, for from one of themi the learned Faustus, a native of Bntain, who became Bishop of Riez, in Provence, endeavoured to prove;' &c. This was a mistake; and the reviewer gravcly in- quties, Is there a single reader of divinity so utterly ignorant of the commonest facts, as not to be aware that 'Fautus wvas an African, a teacher of the A'anichwean heresy at Carthage ?' I answer yes, thou. sands of readers of 'divinity,' for thie is nota fact in divinitv, but . fact in ecclesiastitsl historv, wbich I take permission to believe is as different troin divinity as Faubtus the Mlanicbeean is diflerent from Faustus the bishop. Let me instance tbat'.Teromoe confounds Simon the Just. who met Alexander the Great wheit he canme to Je- rusalem, with Simon-the High Priest, in the days of Herod (Jones, vol. ii., p. J51.) ; yet Jerome will not therefore be condemned to oblivion ; 'nor will Cornelius Nepos be banished our schools, be- causie, in treating professedly of the Life of AMiltiadc- the eon of (;ypsila, he ascrilbesto him the actions ofanotherMiltiades the son of timon (Lenmprere'r ClssicaZ Diet., art. lt dr.) "Besides the 'divinitt" blander comrnitted by the revieer, in h. denunciation of mine eoncerning Faustus, he at the same time comn- mint another, which brings us in juxta.position. He sRys thaxt' To. land's Amyntor, published in 19,' a book relating to the New Testament, ' gave rise to the Codex Pseudepigraphus of Fabricius.' This latter work regards the Old Testament, as its title purports, 'Codex Pseudepigraphus Vcterie Testamenti.' It was notpublish- ed urntil 1713, fifteen yeabs after Toland's bosk, nor wpVs it the work by Fa'olicius to whici Toland's Amyntor gave rise; but the work of Pabricius to which it did give rise, ivws on the Newr Testament, and entideed 'Codex Apocrvphus Novi. Testainenti ' this vas oublished in L703, only five years alter the Amyntor. I mnistook the later Faustus for the earlier Faustus: the reviewer mistakes the' later Codex for theearhlier Codles. He charges me with Faustus: I debit him, per contra, with Codex. How stands the balance ? "' Dulness is sacred in a sound divine;' In the reverend reviewer it is personified. To climax hig absurdity, he should hare used her exclamation- "' Faustus is our friend !'-Duneciad,b.iii. 1. 30&" Mr. HosE'S accotnt of himself and hispursuits, begin- ning atpage-54, will be found curious by the lovers of bio- graphy. His style of writing is like that of most self- taught geniuses, sometimes irregtslar, besides a tinge of va- nity, which, however, is never ofnsive; but in nG point, that wve have observed, does he leave his enemies wvith the advantage over him. MR. HONE'S PAMPIHLET.