the names of assurances, experiences, new births, the witness of the Spirit, the Spirit's work upon the heart, and other popular and seducing phrases, it is represented as the one thing necessary; as the life and soul of all true religion, the very substance of the faith which justifies, the undoubted and infallible testimony of the believer's salvation. To prove this, even Scripture itself is alleged iu that garbled and insulated manner in which it has been at all times quoted in behalf of error and heresy, but in a way perfectly calculated to seduce those who are willing to be seduced, and those who are incapable of unravelling the sophism, and detecting the misrepresentation.

Such is the principle of Methodism: and those who hold this principle, whether they combine it with Calvinistic or Arminian opinions, whether they are followers of Whitfield or of Wesley, whether they call themselves Baptists or Independents, or profess thomselves to be members of the Church of England, are, in the true sense of the word, Methodists." P. 8.

Such is the spirit of Methodism, the same in its source, the same in its tendency, though it vary in strength to every imaginable degree; from the ravings of Huntingdon and Hill, to the sleeker fanaticism of a serious lecturer. Whether above or below proof the spirit is still the same. The effect of this deleterious draught on the minds of its recipients is thus admirably described.

"But when he has once embraced the principle of Methodism, and has learned to place the marvellous narratives that have been detailed to him (to say the least) on the same footing with the Scriptural miracles; his passions are set afloat, and he is eagerly occupied in posturing his own mind into the same train of fears and hopes, struggles and deliverances, convictions and assurances, which have excited his attention and astonishment in the experiences, as they are called, of his fellow Christians. In some minds of a less ardent temperature, these struggles may perhaps lead to much misery and despondence: but, in ordinary cases, the natural vanity and presumption of the human heart soon bring them to a satisfactory conclusion. For these are the passions on which enthusiasm fastens itself, and by means of which it enlists multitudes under its standard. For when a man has once persuaded himself that the faith of which cometh salvation is to be given him in an instant, like lightning flashing from heaven; that he is to receive a direct and infallible assurance of his pardon and acceptance; that the Spirit is to bear a positive and speaking testimony to his spirit, that he is a child of God: this faith will soon flash upon him; this assurance will soon be given to him; the Spirit (as he fondly imagines) will soon teach and convince him, that he is a child of God.

"In fact, the very struggles of the noviciate in Methodism, are commonly one branch of the work of vanity and self-delusion.

They

They are not, for the most part, the genuine and unaffected sorrows of a wounded and penitent spirit, but the artificial and exaggerated labours of a mind placing itself in the position which it deems most favourable to the completion of its wishes: the tempest which, as it has been taught, must precede the sunshine of grace and assurance: the pangs and throws of what is preposterously called the new birth.

"When this scheme has been once adopted, and the persuasions of the individual construed into assurances of forgiveness and direct testimonies of favour, every other vain persuasion and capricious feeling will be regarded as an immediate ray of revelation and divinity. The disorderly practices and almost universal assumption of the ministerial office, which prevail in that branch of them ethodistical body, which has fallen more immediately under my own observation, are melancholy proofs of the fatal effects of the main principle of Methodism. Instead of obeying that sagacious precept of the Apostle, My brethren, be not many masters,' they have among them more masters than scholars. Men, women, and children have their inward calls to pray, preach, expound, and exhort. Meetings are held for the express purpose of exercising their gfts; or, in other words, of acquiring fluency of speech and confidence of forehead; where the audience is proportioned to the progress of the candidate for fame, and his fears are removed, his bashfulness is conquered, and his vanity encouraged by the groans and acclamations of his hearers." P. 12,

This is but too true a delineation of the evil. We tremble at the consequences of fanaticism without our walls, we shudder at its practice within. For such are the practices not of the Wesleyan Methodists alone, they are the practices of men who call themselves Churchmen. Enquire at both our Universitics, whether these things be so; whether, at the mysterious and masonic meetings of the chosen few, the young embryos of fanaticism are not taught to exercise their gifts, to obey their calls, to preach, expound, and exhort: to laugh at constituted authorities, and to disdain sober discipline. This is their education; and thus nurtured in pride and perversity, they are sent out, under the auspices of their pious patrons, to deride the ordinances, pervert the doctrines, and sap the foundations of that Church, which they are bound, by every tie, human and divine, to support and defend.

After this exposition of the dangers by which we are surFounded, and of the sources to which they are to be traced, the Dean proceeds to consider the methods by which the evil may be arrested, and its contagion stayed. He recommends his Clergy to recur perpetually to the pure and primitive doctrines,

"The Wesleyan Methodists."

of

of Christianity, to state them with accuracy and precision, and to advocate them with firmness and consistency. He deprecates any compromise with enthusiasm; for, as he wisely and truly observes, "every compromise with enthusiasm virtually yields the point in question.'

The two great points to which he adverts, in reference to this recommendation, are, first, the doctrine and definition of justifying faith; and, secondly, the doctrine of regeneration. These are indeed the two rallying points of error and enthusiasm ; it is therefore most powerfully incumbent upon every minister of the Gospel, to present his fock with a sound, an accurate, and a scriptural idea of these two leading doctrines, to warn them against the seductions of enthusiasm, and the perversions of error. The views of our author upon both these subjects, are luminous, logical, and scriptural; nor do we know any other place, in which our readers will find a more clear and concise history of the whole controversy. As a proof of our assertions, we shall give his summing up of the latter question,

"To sum up the state of the question.

"1. This doctrine of Baptismal Regeneration is the result of an unprejudiced enquiry into the language of Scripture, conducted on the soundest principles of critical and analogical reasoning.

"2. It was the uniform doctrine of all the antient and orthodox Christians, not treated by them in a loose and inaccurate manner, but put forward, on all occasions, as a fundamental article, and the very hinge of the probationary scheme of our religion. For Baptismal Regeneration was, in their opinion, the point from which our covenanted capabilities of spiritual improvement and salvation commence; the beginning of that mysterious, but conditional, union with our Saviour, on which our justification in this world, and our glorified estate in another, unquestionably depend.

"3. This same doctrine has been unequivocally adopted by our own Church, in a way which leaves no fair nor plausible opening to any other statement or definition.

"On the other hand,

"1. The departures from this doctrine, and the opinions which have been substituted for it, are vague, and various, and unsettled; floating between a moral process and a miraculous change; always lowering the virtue and efficacy of the Sacrament, and commonly leading to fanatical notions.

2. They were all equally unknown to the primitive Churches and antient Christians, upon whose opinions our own public formularies have been avowedly modelled.

"S. And, consequently, they are all equally disclaimed by our own Church, and are totally incompatible with her view of the question." P. 23.

It is impossible that a more perfect view of the question could

be

be presented, than the preceding; nor could there be a more profitable exercise, in any one who was desirous of making himself master of the question, than to fill up, as he may from the Charge itself, so clear and so precise an outline.

The conclusion is drawn up in so manly and vigorous a strain, that we cannot too strongly recommend it to our readers.

"My Reverend Brethren-If the main causes of the great inerease of separation in our times are deeply radicated in the vanity of the human heart and the weakness of the human understanding; if this increase of separation is principally owing to the powerful fascination of fanatical principles and opinions; if it is no easy task to controul these principles, or even to palliate and soften down their evil consequences, we must not, however, yield to the torrent, nor shrink from the avowal of our own principles and doctrines. We must strenuously endeavour to check the progress of this contagious evil, by a manly appeal to plain sense and Scripture; but we must make no compromise with enthusiasm, nor attempt to sccure favour and popularity to ourselves by departing from the doctrines and surrendering up the claims of our own Church. For the claims of our Church to allegiance and attachment do not depend on its legal establishment and civil advantages, but on the orthodoxy of its doctrines, the purity and excellence of its ceremonies. and forms of worship, and its apostolical government and constitution: and, consequently, what we deplore is not dissent from an establishment, but an unreasonable separation from the communion of an orthodox and Apostolical Church." P. 25.

From the account which we have thus laid before them of this excellent Charge, our readers will perceive that it is no ordinary composition. Its leading feature is sound, compressed, and convincing sense, exhibited in a clear and luminous manner, and enforced in a manly and a powerful style. It is evidently the production of a mind, in which writing has been the result of thought, and not thought the follower of writing. From so able and so vigorous a defender of high and holy principle, we shall expect to hear much hereafter; and we trust that the publication before us may be the prelude only of a Charge to the Clergy of a more extended jurisdiction.

ART. VIII. Tracts relative to the Island of St. Helena, written during a Residence of Five Years. By Major Alexander Beatson, late Governor, &c. Illustrated by Views, engraved by Mr. W. Daniell, from the Drawings of Samuel Davis, Esq. 4to. pp. 330. G. and N. Nicol. 1816.

A DESCRIPTION of the island of St. Helena, and a history of its productions, would be at all times worthy of attention; but

since

since the removal of the ex-emperor to this remarkable spot, our interest has been still more engaged in every circumstance attending it. The consequence of which has been that various publications have appeared, professing to acquaint the public with what the authors were probably as ignorant of as those whom they would inform. With all these poachers upon the labours of their predecessors we have nothing to do; as when the immediate curiosity of the public is past, those publications which are calculated only to satisfy it, will assuredly die with it. The work before us at any period would have engaged our attention: it is written by one, who, from his high official situa tion, had ample opportunities of extending his observation, and of enlarging his knowledge. Of these opportunities he appears to have taken the fullest advantage and to have presented us with a luminous, accurate, and most interesting account of an island, which, both in a commercial and a political point of view, is now of such extraordinary importance.

This island was discovered in 1502; though now desolate and denuded, its interior was then one entire forest, and many of its old inhabitants can remember fragments of trees on parts now the most bare. The cause of this denudation is attributed principally to immense quantities of goats, which were introduced in 1513. If these were confined in flocks, Gen. Beatson supposes, that the island might in time be restored to its pristine condition, and again become a well wooded and a beautiful spot.

The introductory chapter contains a genealogical account of the island, with the most probable theory of its primary forma❤ tion, namely, that it is a remuant of a large island, of which the greater part has been sunk under water by the force of earthquakes and volcanos. In this chapter, we are presented with observations on its mineral and vegetable productions, soil, and climate, with its capabilities of improvement, and on its singular strength and security as a military station. From the latter, we shall extract the following paragraphs.

"The natural strength of St. Helena consists in its compact form and size, and in its inaccessible coasts, formed by an almost uninterrupted chain of rocks, or mountains, rising in nearly a perpendicular direction, to the height of from 500 or 600, to more than, 1200 feet.

"It is well known that vessels bound to St. Helena, take care to be considerably to windward; so that by steering afterwards a westerly course, they can hardly fail of falling in with it. After gaining sight of the land, they steer towards the north-east end, in order to fetch the road, by keeping close to the Barn and SugarLoaf Point; for when they attempt to come round by the southFest point, they generally find themselves so much baffled by flur