534 iVNNUAL REGISTER, 1814. 



nion objections of Atheists, Deists, 

 Socinians, and Libertines, against 

 the saving doctrine of the Gospel ; 

 from the suffrage of the divines of 

 Great Britain, delivered by them 

 to the Synod of Dort, March ICth, 

 1019, as the sense of the Church 

 of England ; where the live points, 

 as they are called, are all deter- 

 mined on the Calvinistical side, 

 agreeably to the decisions of the 

 holy Synod ; and lastly, from all 

 their books, to the time of bishop 

 Laud." The writers differed about 

 Episcopacy and Presbyterianism ; 

 but, in general, they agreed about 

 Predestination, 



That this was the doctrine taught 

 at Cambridge, appears not only 

 from the general tenor of the 

 writings of their divines, at the 

 Reformation, but more particu- 

 larly from the decisions in parti- 

 cular controversies, that were af- 

 terwards agitated in the University, 

 and from several letters among the 

 English MSS. in the public library 

 written at the time of the Refor- 

 mation, at Cambridge ; among 

 which might be noticed those of 

 Bradford the martyr, Cranmer, 

 and Ridley, all of whom were of 

 Cambridge, and all of whose writ- 

 ings breathe Calvinism. Indeed, 

 at the time alluded to, Freewillers 

 were persecuted as heretics. 



From the time of Archbishop 

 Laud, in the reign of James \. the 

 theology of our universities took 

 an Arminian turn. There is no 

 evidence, indeed, that James him- 

 self ever made a formal renuncia- 

 tion of his Calvinistic creed ; but 

 it was bis interest to elevate the 

 Arminians: so Arminianism gained 

 -ascendan'^v at Cambridge ; and 

 contniued to do so through suc- 

 tessive reigns : but, further, who- 



ever peruses the above Discourse 

 on Freethinking, by Mr. Collins, 

 and Memoirs of the Life and 

 Writings of Mr. William Whis- 

 ton, written by himself, (both men 

 of learning themselves, and of 

 Cambridge,) will see abundant 

 proof, that, be the public creed in 

 an university what it may, men of 

 learning will often choose to have 

 a creed of their own ; and that 

 philosophy and mathematics have 

 a tendency to swerve from strict 

 Orthodoxy. Nothing is more cer- 

 tain, than that many of the learned 

 men of Cambridge have not shaped 

 their conceptions to the creeds of 

 either Calvin or Arminius : but 

 the general theological literature 

 of the place may be referred to the 

 five points, as they are called, ac- 

 cording to the theories of one or 

 other of those doctors. For the 

 last century. Free-will has de- 

 cidedly triumphed : accordingly, 

 'I illotsons and Sherlocks, &c. be- 

 came their favourite divines. The 

 writer, who more professedly and 

 clearly stated the five points, ac- 

 cording to the system of the Ar- 

 minians, or Freewillers, is Dr. 

 Whitby, who flourished in the 

 middle of the last century : and 

 this must suffice for the Theolo- 

 gical Literature of Cambridjie, 



University of Charkow, 



From KluprotHs Travels in the 

 Caucasus and Georgia, translated 

 by F. Shobcrt.'] 



Charkow has become better 

 known abroad in consequence of 

 the university founded there by the 

 present emperor ; but this mea- 

 sure does not ».eem to have rendered 



