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A third objection is, that he dwells with too much complacency, in the close of his argument, on the present high and advanced state of the Christian profession, as if, indeed, our ancestors had all been either fanatics, or babes, or pigmies, in comparison with ourselves. Now, we are convinced that there really was, upon the whole, quite as large an amount of enlightened, and consistent piety in the kingdom, in the days of these struggles, especially towards the latter part of them, as at any subsequent period. Nothing short of the most decided, and heroic, and even general attachment to Scriptural truth, could have brought about those astonishing and noble contentions for all that was valuable to Englishmen and dear to Christians. There was an elevation in the tones of true piety, a strength and vigour in religious sentiment, a rigid conscientiousness and superiority to sinister ends, as well as a masculine sublimity of character, not in the chiefs and leaders only, but among the secondary agents and adherents, which must clearly mark out the period our Author has chosen, as the age of the great men of this nation, in every sense in which that epithet can be applied to mortals. For specimens of all that is fervid and devout in piety, holy and laborious in life, as well as heroic and disinterested on great and trying occasions, we must look to that very period of our aunals, which some writers are fond of describing, or alluding to, as a sort of relapse into the dark ages; a night, or a winter, during which, under frozen clods and blasting winds, those precious seeds lay dormant, that have now burst forth at once into the utmost beauty and fruitfulness. This is too much the temper of the volume before us. It seems as if the present was the age for which all other ages had been; and the Church of England, the church, for which all others had only prepared the way.

A fourth objection we have to offer, relates to the scanty reference made throughout, to the ushering in of a brighter age, both in politics and religion, than even the present. We think, that to the eye of the Christian philosopher, the survey of the part of the system of Providence already completed, must be so perplexing and obscure, or even awful, that he ought not to pore over it, without calling in the light which prophecy offers towards the discovery of a design, worthy of the great and good Creator. The relation of the past and the present to the future, must not, in a philosophical review of Providence, be passed over in silence. For though we cannot delineate one particle of the yet future effect of existing causes, the field of vision ought not to be hedged up, or terminated so abrupt> ly. Let the eye pore, though it be upon darkness, rather than close it where history terminates. Let the imagination realize

the delightful vision which is denied to sense, and, by the aid of revealed predictions, conjecture at least some relief to the gloominess of the past. There is no event, however inconsiderable, but has its share of influence, and there is nothing that has transpired, but has its relation to some events yet remote, or at least future. By circumscribing our view, therefore, we abridge the doctrine of Providence of half its interest, and nearly all its sublimity. The future part of this scenery is, ably touched by Bishop Butler. He leads the mind to the verge of an interminable and prolific field of devout speculation in the following passage, for the introduction of which we make no apology.

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In this great scheme of the natural world, individuals have various peculiar relations to other individuals of their own species. And whole species are, we find, variously related to other species, upon this earth. Nor do we know, how much farther these kinds of relations may extend. And, as there is not any action or natural event, which we are acquainted with, so single and unconnected, as not to have a respect to some other actions and events: so, possibly each of them, when it has not an immediate, may yet have a remote, natural relation to other actions and events, much beyond the compass of this present world. There seems in

deed nothing, from whence we can so much as make a conjecture, whether all creatures, actions, and events, throughout the whole of nature, have relations to each other. But, as it is obvious, that all events have future unknown consequences: so, if we trace any, as far as we can go, into what is connected with it; we shall find, that if such event were not connected with somewhat further in nature unknown to us, somewhat both past and present, such event could not possibly have been at all. Nor can we give the whole account of any one thing whatever; of all its causes, ends, and necessary adjuncts; those adjuncts, I mean, without which it could not have been. By this most astonishing con'nexion, these reciprocal correspondences and mutual relations, every thing we see in the course of nature, is actually brought about. And things seemingly the most insignificant imaginable, are perpetually observed to be necessary conditions to other things of the greatest importance: so that any one thing whatever, may, for ought we know to the contrary, be a necessary condition to any other.'-Analogy, p. 171, 2.

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We consider the sentiment of this passage, as it exhibits a principle upon which our Author might have wound up his work, with an intensity of interest to the pious mind, necessary to be deeply impressed upon every one who attempts to

series of Providential occurrences; and any thing survey any short of such a sentiment, in the review of great past events, must be culpably deficient. In closing our objections, we have only to state, and it shall be briefly, that the Author has dwelt too much on the grander articles of historic relation, and not sufficiently on some of those minor occurrences, or inferior characters, by which the designs of Providence are often effected. It is the remark of Lord Bacon, in his "Advancement of Learning," that, 'Seeing it is the workmanship of God alone to hang the greatest weight upon the smallest wires, it comes many times to pass that such a history, pursuing only the greater occurrences, rather sets out the pomp and solemnity, than the true resorts and intrinsic contextures of business.'

Upon the literary merits of Mr. O'Sullivan's performance, we have not much to say. It is free from glaring defects; but it has certain negligences which time may correct. His knowledge of history is highly respectable. We are, however, compelled to say, that in almost any other project he would, probably, have been more successful; and we can add, that the causes of failure, after all, belong more properly to the subject, than to the Author. His mean and canting abuse of the Puritans we did at first design to expose; but he has so completely counteracted it himself by the high station he has assigned them, and the testimony he has been compelled to bear to their integrity, piety, and love of liberty, as well as to the claims which an infidel historian has allowed them to have upon the gratitude of every Briton, that we are not anxious, on this occasion, to say any thing more in their favour.

Art. IV. The Old Man and his Grand-daughter at E-: By James Harrington Evans. Fourth Edition, 18mo. pp. 104. Price 1s. 6d.

1817.

THIS little book would not bear us out with propriety, in

any general discussion of a subject that urges itself at present upon the consideration of every one who is concerned for the interests of pure and undefiled religion; we mean the prevalence, under some novel circumstances, of Antinomian corrup tions. An occasion may, perhaps, before long, present itself, which may call from us a full expression of our views on this momentous topic, especially as it stands connected with the question, How far may the consolatory, sanctifying, and very simple doctrine of free, full, and finished salvation in Christ, exist under incumbrances, or have suffered deterioration in the several evangelical sects among us?-We confine ourselves at present to one or two very brief remarks, and determine to forget every thing we may have learned out of court, as to the

system and practices of the Author and his friends; neither shall we allow ourselves to be influenced by any such by-evidence, to put a lower construction upon suspicious expressions than the best they will bear. It is the privilege of those who are conscious of being so much in possession of themselves as to be able to exercise a wise and exact discrimination, that they can, with an unanxious frankness, bestow the full measure of deserved commendation upon the individuals of a party, or the parts of a system, which they feel themselves obliged to oppose. We aspire to this privilege. And there is another privilege to which we aspire; we mean, that which results from the being free, in some comfortable measure, from those interested views, and those unholy passions, which raise, and which keep up when it is raised, the hue and cry of party against party. We aspire to the privilege of exercising "love unfeigned towards all them "that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity," in spite of their weaknesses, their faults, their errors, or, should it so be, their unworthy treatment of ourselves. On the other hand, we will not be classed with the unwary, who, by good words and fair speeches, are led astray from the truth, and under the semblance of the best things, receive death into their souls. While so many about us are exhibiting the symptoms of their having imbibed a mortal infection, we must not receive the most wholesome food without examination, lest we eat that upon which the serpent has crawled.

We can, however, without hesitation, say of the conversation of the Old Man at E.' that it has much of the simplicity and unction of Apostolical Christianity; we hear in it that cheerful sound of the silver trumpet, which is as life from the dead to him who is truly wounded in spirit, and we think we perceive something of that freshness of impression of Gospel truth, most usually found in those who have been taught of God, greatly to the exclusion of human teaching.

M-, a young man ignorant of religion, meets accidentally the Old Man at E.' over the grave of his grand-daughter: their conversation occupies the volume.

Mary, is gone to her home; she has left a poor and empty world for that place where the wicked cease from troubling, and where the weary are at rest. She shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more.You think, then, that she is happy?—Think, Sir, replied the old man, I know that she is.-How is that possible? said M. Sir, rejoined the other, Mary was a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. But are not all Christians believers?-All who are Christians indeed, but not all who are called Christians; " He that believeth on "the Son of God hath everlasting life." This is a plain and positive declaration-no condition is attached-no exception is made-he that believeth, every one that believeth, every one that ventures upon

Jesus for salvation, for this is the act of faith, hath everlasting life.My poor girl was acquainted with one whom the world despises. She knew him, whom to know is life eternal. What is his name? said M-. His name is Jesus.'

The points of doctrine discussed, are the mystical union between Christ and his Church, and the Election of Grace.

In the receiving these truths into her heart by the power of the Holy Ghost, (the old man remarks), my dear Mary found that peace which passeth all understanding-believing the record which God gave of his Son, she saw herself one with him-in him pardoned-in him justified-in him complete-in him perfect. But how, continued M-, could she know all this? The faith of my daughter, replied the old man, was a very simple one--Mary's creed was drawn not from the systems of man, but from the word of God.-Reading the Bible one day she came to this verse--"All that the Father giveth me shall '' come to me; and him that cometh, I will in no wise cast out"then, said she, is my soul saved-for Jesus, to whom can I go but unto thee? Thou hast the words of eternal life-where can I look for pardon but to thy blood? where can I look for acceptance but to thy righteousness?-Lord, I come, and thou wilt not cast me out-no, thou sayest it, thou wilt in no wise cast me out-nay-thou hast spoken it, Lord, and thou canst not cast me out. Had some one gone to her bed-side, and told her to take comfort in herself-in her holy desires-in her spiritual affections-in her past life-Miserable comforter! she would have said,-No-Jesus is my comfort-my salvation-my hope-my life-my all. He is my peace-it is not self, but Jesus--it is not my work but his work-it is not my righteousness but his righteousness-It is not my holiness but his holiness which can give my soul rest. And yet, stranger, let me say that Mary received the truth, not in word only, but in power and in the Holy Ghost. As far as man can judge of the faith of another by outward conduct, her's was indeed the faith of God's elect. In her life and conversation she appeared to adorn the doctrine of God her Saviour.' pp. 89-96.

That activity, intellectual and moral, which commonly distinguishes a nascent party, and which gives it so much advantage over the adherents of long-established forms, generates an impatience of the antiquated phraseology, even where precisely the same thing is intended to be expressed. Indeed, whoever thinks for himself, in doing so, must receive a strong impression of that inadequacy and confusion which are the inseparable imperfections of language as the vehicle of thought; and it is hard if he do not imagine that he can invent a system of terms, much more closely allied to his conceptions, than that which he finds in common use; at least, better adapted to prove to others, that he has himself made an excursion into the world of things, and has brought back something which had been overlooked by other men. These novelties, however, will not fail to give offence, and occa

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