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Christian. But, above all, let him attend to what are said to be its principal impediments.

"1st. A rash presumption that we are already converted; 2ndly. a wanton resistance to the gracious influence of the Holy Ghost; 3dly. outward and hypocritical penitence; 4thly, carnal confidence in God's mercy and in the merits of Christ; 5thly. a trust in the exterior use of the means of grace, in our religion, our worship, and our pious ancestors; 6thly. an abuse of God's lenity and goodness; 7thly. carnal security; 8thly. delay of penitence; and 9thly. despair." (pp. 156, 157.)

Faith is defined to consist of knowledge, assent, and confidence, p. 160. Good works are affirmed to be necessary to faith; to be found only in the regenerate and justified; and indispensable, not as procuring forgive ness or salvation through their merit, but as flowing from a right faith, and because the Holy Spirit is lost by contrary practices. But these good works are operated in man by God alone. See pp. 163-165.

We shall close our extracts from this important work, with what it teaches concerning the qualification of

ministers.

"What is chiefly considered in the choice of ministers?

Not only the external capacity and endowments are to be considered, but also the gifts of sanctity; so that none be admitted into this office but such as are blameless, and holding the mystery of faith in a pure conscience. Those who are thus qualified are called Angels of the Lord of Hosts, Ambassadors for Christ, Ministers of Christ, and Stewards of the Mysteries of God, Labourers together with God, &c. Those, on the contrary, who are not thus qualified, are in the Scriptures called thieves, murderers, false prophets, deceitful workers, blind leaders, &c." (p. 185*.)

* A table prefixed to this volume will give the reader a clear and comprehensive view of the different relations of the subjects contained in it. The useful but unfashionable work of Binchius, intitled, Mellificium Theologicum, comes as near to the plan of Mr. Freylinghausen's work as any with which we are acquainted. We have discovered the following errors of the press, which may be corrected thus: p. 30, line 2, from bottom, for Phil. i. 34, read Phil. i. 23. p. 89, line 3, from bottom, for Matt. xxii. 33, read Matt. xxii. 3.-p. 96, line 1, 2, from bottom, for Luke xii. 27, 28, read Luke xii. 47, 48.-p. 98, line 6, from bottom, for effects read çiject.—p,

Such is the religious creed, such are the religious principles, which the illustrious consort of our revered and beloved sovereign approves, and instils into her family. Such is the theology, of which the first female personage in the British Empire, permits her high estimation to be made public. It cannot but afford a sincere pleasure to every friend of unsophisticated Christianity to find, that the is not of that timid and compromising, theological system thus distinguished that inane, corrupt, or perverted description, which, amidst the relaxed principles of modern times, is too much in request, but stands forth in its proper character; founded on the basis of scriptural truth; recommend-· ed and enforced by its real sanctions; demanding, with imperious authority, internal and universal holiness; addressing itself powerfully to the heart; and affording a solid foundation, upon which the faithful Christian, with the dread prospect of eternity before him, may yet rest with security, composure, and confidence.

In the occasion here presented to us, of contemplating the concern manifested on the throne of this empire for the interest and advancement of the purified Christianity of the Retormation, we are insensibly led back to the consideration of times which we have just escaped, when the angry heavens seemed ready to discharge their full storm upon this favoured but ungrateful isle, in common with the rest of Europe. In such times, we reflect with gratitude and exultation, that while many of the sovereigns of other nations were numbered among the patrons and promoters of those principles of impiety, profligacy, and anarchy, which convulsed the civilized regions of the west to their very centre, the king of Great Britain was honourably distinguished by an entire præterition: and such was the known integrity and firmness of his character, as to deter those whom success had emboldened, and who knew no shame, from an application, which, had it prevailed, would have afforded incalculable service to their iniquitous causet.

In a situation on various accounts

177, line 7, 8, from top, for unfortunate read importunate.-p. 181, last line, for John i. 3, read 1 John i. 3.

† See Baruel, Vol. I. p. 211,

804.1

Review of Daubeny's Trial of the Spirit.

most alien or even adverse to the humiliating, the mortifying, and the heavenly dictates of Christianity, it is no slender praise openly to profess, and stedfastly to adhere to, that pure religion; to be uncontaminated in the midst of infection, and to maintain integrity when surrounded by temp

tation.

We trust, that the publication which has led us to this train of reflection will operate as an encouragement to a greater attention to the religious part of education among all orders, especially the superior, to whom the present example peculiarly applies; and that the deplorable and increasing ignorance on religious subjects*, which has so long exposed the people of this nation, unarmed and defenceless, to the seductions of every erroneous and pernicious principle, will, in some degree, be remedied by a more diligent regard to the education of the junior part of society, by a careful election of sound theology for their instruction, and by inculcating the doctrines, precepts, and sanctions of Christianity, with an earnestness suitable to their importance. A speedy change would be wrought in the character of the nation were such a change in its conduct to take place.

For the attainment of this great object our eyes are in a peculiar manner directed to the clergy, the appointed religious instructors of the nation; and it were a consummation devoutly to be wished for, that, wave ing all inferior differences, they would unite in proclaiming and enforcing, in its fundamental doctrines, the unadulterated word of life; that, adorning the doctrines which they teach by a suitable conversation, they might recommend the ways of God to men; and that, by diligently feeding the flock of Christ, over which the Holy Ghost has made them overseers, they might both save themselves and those who hear them.

Dr. Priestley has made the observation that the present is "an age in which every thing relating to religion is matifestly getting out of sight, even with respect to the generality of those who do read and think; which was by no means the case formerly." Newcome, p. 2. To this cause, perhaps, Letters to Bishop he might in part have ascribed the progress of his own principles. Unquestionably ignorance may as justly be said to be the mother of Socinianism as of Devotion.

756

CLXXXVI. The Trial of the Spirits; a seasonable Caution against Spiritual Delusion: in Three Discourses, addressed to the Congregation as-' sembled in Christ Church, Bath. By the Reverend CHARLES DAUBE NY, Minister of Christ Church, Bath. London, Rivingtons. pp. 78. Price 2s.

In a dedication to the congregation assembled in Christ Church, Bath, these Discourses are said to have been written with the view of qualifying the author's hearers to judge rightly of the work of the Spirit, and thereby to secure them from imposition on a subject of the most important concern. tions of Mr. Daubeny, both in this From the subsequent observaprefatory address and in the discourses themselves, it appears that he is greatly alarmed by the zeal with which some, who separate from the established Church, labour to seduce her members from their appointed ministers, under the pretence of affording them superior means of spiritual instruction and edification.

that humble, unassuming, trembling hope, "Not content," he observes, "with. which becomes the frailty and imperfection of the best of men to entertain; and which is the general result of self-acquaintthe appointed means of grace, they," that is, these self-appointed and fanatical ance, accompanied with a proper use of teachers, whom he had been just describing in the words of the Bishop of Lincoln, in his Charge of 1800,"boast of, and diligently inculcate a confident assurance of salvation; an experimental knowledge of the forgiveness of sins by some sensible operations of the Holy Spirit; and arrogate to themselves those extraordinary gifts, which, for wise reasons, peculiarly distinguished the first preachers of the Gospel: although the Apostle in describtheir implicit confidence, hardy assuing the state of the saints, makes use of no terms calculated to convey 'an idea of rance, or infallible knowledge of their sal vation; but represents these first fruits of the attainment of their heavenly prize, the Gospel, as pressing forward towards forgetting those things which were behind, and stretching forth to those things which calling and election sure: supported, inwere before; thus labouring to make their deed, by a lively hope, but not presuming tainty of their salvation; depending, not to erect that hope into knowledge or cer of the Holy Spirit, with their feeble, but on their strength, but on the co-operation honest endeavours; whilst he concludes the ensamples set before them for their

admonition, with the following salutary and important caution: Wherefore, let him that thinketh he staudeth, take heed, lest he fall'." (p. 6.)

To a defect of information upon this important subject, Mr. Daubeny ascribes the chief success of those ir regular teachers, in the propagation of their tenets, particularly in the case of those members of our Church, who, after having long lived as merely no minal Christians, are brought "by distress, or some other providential circumstance, to their first serious thoughts on the subject of religion." Such persons, the author observes, when they hear of sensible operations of the Spirit, conveying a confident assurance of salvation, and an experimental knowledge of the forgiveness of sins, concluding that there must be some great defect in the religious service to which they have hitherto been accustomed, are immediately led to separate from the Church, in the hope of improving their spiritual condition, not considering, that the fault lies wholly with themselves; their want of spiritual knowledge and comfort being entirely owing to their neglect of the means of grace, which are amply provided by the Church. In these observations there is certainly much truth, though we think it might also have been worth while to inquire, how far, in some cases of this kind, much of the blame may not justly be attributed to the carelessness and neglect of the appointed ministers of the Church; a supposition which we conceive, in many instances, to be but too well-founded. Without dwelling, however, on this point, we will now proceed to examine the three discourses themselves, which Mr. Daubeny has written, for the purpose of preserving his own hearers from the evil of which he thus complains.

The first discourse is from the words of our Lord to Nicodemus, John iii. 8. "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof; but canst not tell whence it cometh, nor whither it goeth; so is every one that is born of the Spirit." After an introduction concerning the use and design of the figurative language of Scripture, conformably to the view given of this subject by the late Mr. Jones, of Nayland, Mr. Daubeny very properly concludes, from the allusion of our Lord

in the text, that the ordinary operation of the Spirit on the human soul bears a resemblance to that of the wind on the face of nature in this respect; that whilst the effects are manifest, the origin and particular process of the cause remain, in both cases, equally invisible and unaccountable. From this conclusion respecting the doctrine of regeneration, the author proceeds to draw some inferences to assist the rutional Christian in forming his judgment on spiritual subjects. He infers, in the first place, that "man may have suffi cient reason to believe a thing to exist, without being able to account for it; and, consequently, that difficulties about the manner of any thing's subsisting, furnish no objection against the truth of it, when there is evidence sufficient to support it." This observation, which is readily admitted with respect to natural things, is justly applied by Mr. Daubeny to the subject of regeneration. "There are certain marks which characterize this spiritual birth: whenever these marks are clearly to be distinguished, we reasonably conclude, that the subject in which they are found is a regenerate being." It follows, therefore, says Mr. Daubeny, that this being that only degree of knowledge in spiritual things, which an all-wise Deity has thought proper to communicate to man in his present condition, both they who disbelieve the reality of spiritual influences, and they who pretend to ascertain the precise time and manner in which the Holy Spirit carries on his work in the soul, are equally wrong. Mr. Daubeny asserts, however, that of this we are certain, because revelation has informed us, that spiritual influences are not of that irresistible kind to be inconsistent with the nature of man, as a free, reasonable, and accountable being. "For the Holy Spirit moves, inclines, and disposes, but does not impel. He leads and conducts all who are willing to be led and conducted by him; but does not over-rule continued opposition and wilful resistance*." The author concludes, therefore, with an exhortation in the words of the pious Bishop Andrews, to a faithful and diligent use of prayer, the word, and the sacraments, as appointed means of grace.

* Clemeus, p. 5%

Throughout this discourse, which we perused upon the whole with satisfaction, we were happy to find Mr. Daubeny representing regeneration as "the great change necessary to take place in fallen man to qualify him for admission into the Kingdom of God:" and in another place, as " that great change wrought in the human soul by the mysterious operation of the Divine Spirit: by which the natural man enters on a new and spiritual life: a change so great that it was figuratively described by the strong expression of his being born again." Without pretending to assert the consistency of this view of the subject with positions which Mr. Daubeny has elsewhere maintained, we do not hesitate to recommend it, as sound and scriptural, both to those divines who, while they profess to admire that gentleman's writings, are disposed to divest regeneration of every thing spiritual; and to those reviewers who, while they make a point of extolling every sentiment of Mr. Daubeny, whatever be the subject, can censure the very same sentiment when expressed by others.

The second discourse is from 1 John iv. 1. "Beloved, believe not every spirit; but try the spirits whether they are of God; because many false prophets are gone out into the world." Mr. Daubeny introduces this discourse by some observations upon the context, chiefly intended, as it should seem, to identify those who separate from the Church with the false pretenders to the Spirit, Simon Magus, Hymeneus, Philetus, Diotrephes, and others, to whom the Apostle alludes in the text. Now, observes Mr. Daubeny, "as false prophets are still going out into the world, the spirits must still be tried, in order to ascertain their pretension and character." To strengthen this conclusion, he quotes the direction of St. Paul to the Ephesians, to guard against being tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;" and to "put on the whole armour of God, that they might be able to stand against the wiles of the devil:" "or, as the word might be translated," savs Mr. Daubeny, "against the Methodisms of the Devil." (15 to Sun, 18 Alators.) We should scarcely have conceived it possible, that Mr CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 36.

D. could have prevailed on himself deliberately to publish such a poor attempt at punning, to give it no worse a name, as appears here in the form of a correction of the sacred text. It reflects no credit either on his taste or his temper. As if delighted, however, with this specimen of his *combined wit and learning, he proceeds to inform us, that "many and vari ous are the wiles or methodisms which this arch deceiver of mankind is permitted to exercise, for the trial of God's faithful servants." This most ingenious emendation was, we doubt not, greatly admired by some who heard it; but if Mr. Daubeny should, on that account, suppose that he was acting consistently with the dignity of the pulpit, and with the reverence due to the Scriptures, by extracting from them so quaint a conceit; or that he was promoting the growth of his congregation in candour and charity by thus expressing himself, we can only say, that we differ from him very widely in our view of the subject.

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After enlarging on the characters of the primitive false prophets, intimating their existence in the present day, and hinting at "the wild extravagancies to which, through the enthusiastic reveries of Methodism," the persuasion of extraordinary divine communications has led, Mr. Daubeny goes on to inquire, in what way the apostolic direction in the text may be best reduced to practice," viz. to try the spirits whether they are of God. For this purpose, he obviously remarks, that a certain established standard must be appealed to, according to their conformity to which, the genuineness of their character is to be determined. This, upon the authority of our Lord, as Mr. Daubeny justly decides, must be the quality of the works which they perform. "By their fruits ye shall know them." At the same time, Mr. Daubeny does not mean to say, that all pretensions to the direct and sensible influence of the Holy Spirit are vain; or to deny

*We say his, for though we recollect meeting with the expression some years ago, in a periodical publication noted for the virulence of its abuse, we presume, that had not Mr. Daubeny himself had the honour of being the original inventor of this interpretation, his professed regard for the laws of literature would have induced him to acknowledge his obligation.

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"that comfortable experience, which all the churches of the saints.' And it is pious and sober Christians feel, in the direction of an Apostle, that the men consequence of the effect produced bers of the Church should obey them on the powers and dispositions of that have the rule over them, and subunit their minds, by the doctrines of Chris- themselves, for they watch for souls, as tianity rightly appreciated." But he they that must give an account"." (p. 64 observes, that even this is evidence only to the party himself, and no further even to him, than as upon examination he finds himself possessing those graces and dispositions which are called in Scripture the fruits of the spirit." The false pretender to spiritual communications, Mr. Daubeny adds at the conclusion of this discourse, argues forward from the cause to the effect," whereas truly spiritual man proceeds by arguing backwards from the effect to its

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The third discourse, which is from the same words of St. John, is occupied with the immediate application of the text brought forward in the preceding one concerning spiritual attainments. To this end, Mr. Daubeny lays down certain marks both negative and affirmative, by which the characters of men are distinguished. The first he mentions is of a negative kind, viz. hat of boasting and Ostentation, as opposed to that spirit of humility which is one of the chief This is illusgraces of the Gospel. trated by the example of the Apostle Paul himself, and is intended, as it appears by a quotation from the present Bishop of Rochester's Charge, to be applied to those who trust to experiences, to sensible impressions, to immediate illuminations. To this we readily assent, provided that nothing further be meant than meets the ear: that "noisy ostentatious and pharisaical" religion; that unauthorized pretensions to extraordinary revelations, be really designed to be alone stigmatised.

"A second mark," observes Mr. Daubeny," of the negative kind, which demonstrates the possessor of it, not to be under the influence of the true Spirit; is disobedience to rule and order, and contempt of lawful authority; which distinguishes those, who on the presumption of their being possessed of superior illumination, think they are doing God service, in drawing away people from the regular and established ininistry of the Church, to follow teachers who have no authority but their own to produce for their pretensions. Such irregular practice cometh not from the Spirit of God. For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace: as in

As to this mark we have only to observe, that we perfectly agree with Mr. Daubeny in thinking that the spirit of those who set up. a private spirit, an imaginary illumination, as a rule of judgment and conduct, to supersede those ordinary and regular means by which the affairs of Christ's kingdom in this world were designed to be carried on," is certainly not a spirit which proceedeth from God. But if Mr. Daubeny intends to insinuate (as we apprehend he does in the passage quoted above) that the influences of the Spirit of God are withheld from all those who separate from the established Church; we have only to say, notwithstanding our decided conviction of its apostolic origin and authority, that no arguments which he has ever yet brought forward have been able to convince us, that the grace of God and the influences of his. Spirit are exclusively confined to her members.

"The third and last mark of the negafive kind, which indicates its possessor not to be under the direction of the true Spirit, is the insisting on those deceitful and equivocal proofs of the Spirit of God, to support which there is no authority from scripture to be produced. When men talk of sudden impulses, violent emotions, of immediate inspiration; we are justified and sensible experiences as demonstrations in concluding that some strange and unhappy delusion prevails in their case; because we know both from scripture and the history of the Church, that the work of the Spirit has been generally carried on in a very different manner." (p. 66.)

After what we observed relative to the first negative mark brought for ward by Mr. Daubeny, we think it unnecessary to say any thing further upon this last. Our readers will give us full credit, we are persuaded, for being thoroughly disposed to discountenance all violent and enthusiastic impulses and emotions, as characteristic of divine influences.

"To these marks of the negative kind," Mr. Daubeny proceeds "to oppose that single mark of the affirmative kind pointed out in Scripture; by which our judgment may be infallibly directed on this subject. "If ye love me,' says Christ, keep my commandment.' Such is the test by

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