requires of every individual to submit to the sovereign power of that community, to which for the time being, he shall belong, or reside in, for the sake of the moral order and government of the human species. God imposes upon no man, either for a limited time or for life, an absolute and positive obligation of submitting to any particular laws or rulers of any community.. No community no civil power, no human legislative body, can directly impose any conscientious obligation upon an individual. That directly and immediately arises from God's general injunction to all mankind to obey the powers that are, for the preservation of the moral order of society, established in the general dispensation of his providence." The writer of the above passage has obviously no correct idea of the nature of civil authority. If, as he affirms, "God has invested the civil magistrate with a power to enforce submission to the acts of the supreme legislature of each community," does he not directly oppose his own position when he immediately afterwards asserts that "No community, no civil power, no human legislative body, can directly impose any conscientious obligation upon an individual.”

Not only are these positions repugnant to each other, but they are untrue in themselves. That the civil magistrate has any commission from on high to enforce submission to the act of the supreme legislature of each community, is a doctrine which might be called forth in defence of the deepest injustice, and the most desperate tyranny: the common sense of mankind has long since exploded it as an indefinite and unfounded maxim, fit only for the fraudulent purposes of arbitrary power. The right to exercise any power whatever must depend upon the purposes to which it is applied, and the ends to be produced by it; it is delegated for the welfare of that aggregate mass which constitutes the body to be governed: it is deposited in the hands of the governing body, or civil magistracy in the state, with that view and under that covenant. Every constitution is valuable in proportion as it is calculated to ensure the just administration of public authority, and to secure and perpetuate those private rights, which, taken collectively, constitute the legitimate independence and genuine freedom of the commonwealth. But to pursue this topic would lead us into a wide field of investigation.

The other position, that "no community, no civil power, no human legislative body, can directly impose any conscientious obligation upon an individual," contains a doctrine which lays the axe to the root of all government. The principle is so childish in itself, and involves so much of absurdity and contradiction, that we shall dismiss it without discussion.

On the subject of the right of property, the author's reasoning is so perplexed, and what he advances in one sentence, he so distinctly opposes in the next, that we are utterly at a loss to determine what conclusion it is at which he wishes his readers should arrive. "The precept thou shalt not steul,' he tell us, " is a command of God that equally binds the consciences of all men, but it is grounded upon the presumption of private property and peace being necessary for the preservation of society. Although individuals be bounden in morality and conscience to respect the property of their neighbours, and although whatever we possess in this world proceed originally from God, as the creator and dispenser of all worldly blessings, yet it is not true, that God gives us immediately a right or title to our property."

Surely whatever we receive at the hand of God, we have a right or title to retain; for this right must reside somewhere, and to suppose it to exist in another would be absurd. The precept which prohibits theft, is equivalent to a command that every one should strictly refrain from interrupting the enjoyment of that right, and this command is strictly enforced by the policy of all civil institutions. Whatever we possess immediately from God, we cannot hold at the will of another; possession and right in this case are therefore correlative terms. But this view of the origin of property is too abstract to lead to any practical, or satisfactory conclu sion on the subject in connection with which, its discussion is introduced. When we are informed that "that it is not true that God gives us immediately a right or title to our property," we cannot fail to remark that the very term." our property," presumes our title, and affirms it; and will this writer contend that this right is not secured by that divine law which makes it the duty of all other persons to abstain from its violation.

If the reader can discover what illustration is derived to the subject of this treatise, from the following remarks, or what connection they have with the principles and law of Tything, we will not withhold from him any acquisition of knowledge which may result to him from their application.

"St. Paul writing to the Romans about their civil magistate, says (13 ad Rom.) that he is to be "a terror to evil doers, and a praise to them who do well." When he fully asserts the power of the magistrate, it is the power of the Heathen magistrate, such as was vested in him, previous to and independent of christianity. Whatever therefore according to St. Paul, he was obliged to do, was what the light and

law of nature dictated. Such as St. Paul represented the civil magistrate to the Romans, such did he remain after his becoming a christian: for christianity gave him no new power. The heathen civil magistrate had full as large a power over and about religion, as if he were a christian; and was bound' to take equal care of the morals of his subjects, according to the light of nature. The powers of a parent over his child, that of a master over his servant, and of a sovereign over his subjects, were all instituted by God, and traced in the hearts of men by the instinct or light of nature, before the Almighty committed the divine legation to Moses, or in his greater bounty revealed to mankind the mysteries of christianity. Although these duties be greatly perfected in their exercise, by the light of the gospel, yet the duties have ever continued the same, as has also the conscientious obligation of submitting to them; therefore the Apostle saith (v. 2) in speaking of the heathen magistracy of Rome, "whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God."

It was no doubt very natural to predict that the reflective reader would inquire, what was the inference meant to be deduced from all this: the writer therefore himself furnishes a solution which might supersede any useless investigation. "The inference is; the power which the magistrate has is ordained of God, and therefore does it bind the conscience of man. It will be readily allowed that the conscientious obligation to obey, must be commensurate with the power of the magistrate to command."

We doubt much whether indeed this will be so "readily allowed" as Mr. Plowden seems to imagine. If it be true that the duty to obey is commensurate with the power to command, the oppressed and subjugated states of Europe will be without apology should they ever again attempt to release themselves from the dominion of their new master. They would be sadly loth, we believe, to admit any maxim that could put their feelings and their conscience so much at vari

ance.

The second chapter, which professes to treat "Of the General Nature of Tythes, and other ecclesiastical Revenues," opens thus :

"If there never had existed a civil establishment of the Christian Religion, our ideas of the spiritual and temporal powers would not have been confused, but clearly and distinctly marked. During the three first centuries of Christianity the true Religion was generally persecuted by every state, but sanctioned or supported by none, an irrefragable argument that civil sanction was necessary neither for the establishment, nor the continuance of christianity. Some respectable and learned men have considered civil establishment

uninitiated in cases where slight errors are not always followed by slight consequences.

MEDICINE.

On Vaccine Inoculation. By Robert Willan, M. D. F. A. S. Physician Extraordinary to the Fever Institution, and to the Public Dispensary, in London. 4to. pp. 164. Price 15s.

THE attention which Dr. Willan has paid for several years to the diseases of the skin, peculiarly qualifies him for an investigation of the various interesting circumstances connected with Vaccination; and we have perused his observations on this subject with much interest.

When Inoculation for the Cow Pox was first introduced, we entertained great doubt of its efficacy; but in the progress of our enquiries we became converts to the practice, and gave it our cordial support. We are inclined to believe, however, that in some few instances this new method has failed: but we are persuaded that in the great majority of cases published, in which the Small Pox is said to have followed Vaccination, the Vaccination has been imperfect; and that the failure may be attributed either to ignorance on the part of the operator, or to a want of attention to a variety of minute but essential circumstances which Dr. Willan has endeavoured to point out.

This treatise, composed from minutes made in the course of the last five years, is intended to exhibit the result of a laborious investigation, without reference to controversies; and its author, though not an Inoculator, having had sufficient opportunities of observing the progress and effects of Vaccination, and being no partizan, hopes that in writing on the subject his conclusions will appear to be unbiassed by interest or prejudice. "The remarks I have to offer," he modestly says, "may be of little importance to professed Inoculators, but I trust they will prove useful to the majority of medical practitioners, and meet with attention from others, the safety of whose families depends on the efficacy of Vaccine Inoculation."

After having defined certain terms which frequently occur in his book, Dr. W. investigates the combined inoculation of the variolous and vaccine fluids, and infers from many collateral authorities, confirming his own experience, that when introduced at the same time, they restrain the operation of each other on the human body, and alter the form of the pustules or vesicles excited, without effecting any change in the qualities of the fluid these contain. With regard to the

alteration of form, he says, "the vaccine vesicle is, in some cases, smaller than usual, and has a very slow progress; in other cases, the areola is scarcely perceptible, while, in others, it is large, but premature, and the variolous eruption consists of hard distinct shining pustules, (horny or warty pocks) which have but little inflammation round them, and which seldom maturate." "Some of the pustules," he adds, "are minute and paqulous, not suppurating, but desquamating."

In the second section of this treatise, the author gives an account of the characteristics and effects of perfect Vaccination, and enumerates a variety of circumstances and appear ances, which, accompanied by accurate engravings, throw great light on this part of the work.

In this section Dr. W. takes occasion to quote the follow ing strong and comprehensive aphorism of Dr. Jenner:

"Those persons on whom the Vaccine Vesicle has been excited by perfect matter, and has completely gone through the progressive stages of inflammation, maturation, and scabbing, are ever after secure from the infection of the Small Pox; neither exposure to the variolous effluvia, nor the insertion of the matter into the skin, producing that distemper."

"We cannot now," says the author, "withhold our assent to this position generally, since the truth of it has been confirmed by the active experience of the most eminent physicians and surgeons, and by the opinion of other scientific men, accustomed to investigation; but is it necessary to the advancement of Vacciné Inoculation, or to the reputation of Dr. Jenner, that we should acknow ledge his position to be true universally and invariably? Experi enced practitioners will be disposed to answer this question in the negative, since no absolute certainty can be obtained of the precise effect of any medical or chirurgical process. In the infinite diversity of human constitutions, there may be some which are neither susceptible of the Vaccine Disease, nor the Small Pox, others which are susceptible of the former and not of the latter, or vice versa, and others which are susceptible of both at the same time, or, to a certain degree, at separate times: there may also be a few in which the inoculation excites a new mode of action, terminating in erysipelas, phagedenic ulcer, or other morbid appearances, not necessarily connected with the specific disease."

In the third Section we are taught how to distinguish imperfect Vaccination.

"Vaccination is imperfect or insufficient, 1st, When the fluid employed has lost some of its original properties. 2d, When the persons inoculated are soon afterwards affected with any contagious: fever. 3d, When they are affected, at the time of inoculation,' with some chronic cutaneous disorders."