of infidelity. He all along pretends to respect and believe Christianity. How far in this he was consistent with himself, and with what truth he pretended to believe Christianity, will appear by the following passage of one of his Letters to Lord Sheffield, since published by that nobleman. It relates to Mr. Burke's book on the French Revolution: I admire his eloquence,' says he, I approve his politics, I adore his chivalry, and I can forgive even his superstition. The primitive church, which I have treated with some freedom, was itself an innovation; and I was attached to the old Pagan establishment.' However brilliant were the talents, howeyer splendid the eloquence of Mr. Gibbon, we may infer from his confession, that he possessed neither that impartiality, nor strict regard to truth, which are the first requisites of an, historian. This confession gives us a key, which at once explains his panegyric on the elegant Mythology of Greece and Rome, and all his insinuations against Christianity.

66

Hartley, in his Observations on Man, speaking of persons who reject Christianity, but profess a regard to natural religion, says, As far as has occurred to my observation, these persons either deceive themselves, or attempt to deceive others in this. There appears in them no love or fear of God, no confidence in him, no delight in meditating upon him, no hope or joy in a future state. Their hearts and their treasures are upon this earth; upon sensual pleasures, or vain amusements, perhaps of philosophy or philology, pursued to pass the time; upon honour or riches.' Accordingly Mr. Hume, a person of this description, uses an expression to the following effect, in regard to religion, in a Letter to Dr. Blair, already quoted in this work:

I have long, says he, done with all enquiries on such subjects; and am become incapable of instruction.' How fully this passage justifies Hartley's -Remarks !"

The profits arising from the sale of this publication, are devoted to the use of the Baptist Mission in Bengal.

Letters to the Rev. T. Belsham, on some Important Subjects of Theological Discussion, referred to in his Discourse on Occasion of the Deat;

of the Rev. Joseph Priestley, L.L. D. F. R. S. By Jolin Pye Smith. Svo, Price 35. boards.

THE respectable author of these passages, introduces his object in submitting them to the public notice, in the following words:

"Dr. Priestley is dead. May the wrath and rancour of his enemies, for their own sakes, die also, and perish for ever! The prayers and wishes which purest benevolence has often dictated, for a revolution infinitely desirable in his religious sentiments aud feelings, are brought to an awful pause; and their result is a problem, to be resolved only when" we all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ,"

"But, in the sincere spirit of integrity and candour, to examine his public character; and to investigate the evidence, the tendency, and the value of his sentiments, is now become a duty more incumbent than ever, on the lovers of truth. By that prepossessing interest, which the death of an illustrious man produces in every ingenious mind, by the expected publication of the Doctor's Posthumous Works; and by that strong excitement of the public attention which may justly be look ed for, a most fair and open opportu nity is presented for spreading and recommending his religious opinions. In such circumstances, indifference would be deeply criminal in those whose honest convictions lead them to entertain views widely different on the most interesting parts of sacred truth,

"To join my very humble efforts in advancing the great cause of pure, rational, and scriptural truth, is my object in submitting to yourself and the public, some remarks on various sentiments, and expressions occurring in your discourse. An apology for so doing, you would esteem very needless."

Such is our author's object; 'and the gentleman to whom the Letters are addressed, will, with us, candidly allow, that it is pursued with the meekness of a Christian, and the breeding of a man of polished manners. Happy would it have been for the church, had the enquiries of her sons after the truth, and their defences of the truth, been ever conducted by this mild and candid spirit. When the pas sions are interested, the dust raised

by the combatants must blind their Own eyes, and weaken the influence of evidence on the minds of spectators. The wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God, nor do his bitter bilious tempers aid the diffusion of evangelical senti

ment.

It would be impracticable, in our narrow limits, to give an analysis of the diversified contents of these papers. In Letter II, the author gives a view of the opinions peculiar to Calvinists, in opposi tion to what he justly styles The Caricature of them sketched," by Mr. Belsham. Mr. Smith indeed admits, that his ideas on the subject of Necessity, are different from those commonly received by Calvinists. These are depths in the doctrine of the connection of the divine purpose with the free operation of the human will, which our very limited faculties permit us not to fathom. Instead of urging our way farther into the abyss, piety and modesty of mind, we conceive, should induce us to return; and, with St. Paul, taking ou station on the shore, devoutly exclaim, “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor ?"

In the abstract which Mr. Belsham gives of the leading articles of the doctrine of Jesus, he enumerates, p. 59, The equal and impartial love of God to his whole human offspring, unrestrained by any local or ceremonial distinction; the infinite placability of the divine character; and the free and unpurchased mercy of God to the truly penitent.'

"It is superfluous," says Mr. Smith, "to observe, that these particulars are introduced expressly as the reverse of Calvinisin. Most evidently, it is designed that your readers should conceive of that much calumniated system as the absolute denial of these propoşitions. Permit me, however, to assure you that this is a representation of

the case utterly erroneous and injurious, Calvinism, Sir, restrains not the love of tion; or by any distinction conceivGod by any local or ceremonial distineable, except that which is made by Purity and Wisdom, Rectitude and Truth. If your view of the equality of divine love sets at defiance this distinction, it is an outrage and an insult on Infinite Perfection and Excellence. Calvinism inviolably maintains that the divine that the mercy of God is free and uncharacter is infinitely placable; and purchased; and it maintains these great principles in a manner consistent and rational. It is true, Calvinism does

not confound the eternal difference of

right and wrong; it does not consider mercy as justice, and grace as debt; it does not immolate all the moral and le

gislative glories of Deity to the ignorant proscriptions, the criminal partialities,

of selfish and worthless rebels, who care for nothing but their own interest. Such, in the view of a consistent and practical Calvinist, is the infinite p'acability, the free and unpurchased mercy of God: that, unable to form concep tion, or devise language equal to the boundless theme, with grateful astonishment, he exclaims, God is love! Herein is love; not that we loved God, but that he loved us ;" and, as the first and noblest expression of his free and unpurchased love," sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins."

From the apostle Paul's zeal and success in converting the Heathen, and from the success of the orthodox, in latter times, among the Indians in America, the Hottentots in Africa, and the Bramins in Hindostan, contrasted with the tor por and deadness of the Unitarians in Poland, and elsewhere, with all their advantages, Mr. Smith concludes with saying,

-

though invisibly; and we know that he occasionally appeared to him during the course of his ministry: and surely, it must have been an exquisite gratification to the apostle to reflect, that he lived, and laboured, and suffered under his Master's eye; to whom he might, at any time, have recourse in a season of difficulty; and of whose protection he was secure. "I can do all things," says he, "through Christ, who strengthenGladly, therefore, will I glory in my infirmity, that the power of Christ may rest upon me; for when I am weak, then am strong."

eth me.

On this doctrine of the corporeal, yet invisible presence of Jesus on earth during the apostolic age, Mr. Smith puts these very pertinent questions :

Are not supplicatory addresses for such blessings as the apostle is admitted to have prayed to the Lord Jesus for, a recognition of divine power and goodness in the being to whom they are offered? Is not the "Lord Jehovah, in whom is everlasting strength," uniformly represented in Scripture as the only proper and competent object of prayer for those blessings? Compare 2 Cor. xii. 8, with 2 Chron. xxiii. 12. Ps. cxvi. 4; 2 Cor, xii. 9, with Ps. Ixviii. 35. Ps. exxxviii, 33-2 Cor. XH. 10, with Ps, Ixxiii. 26; and Phil. iv. 13, with Ps. lxxi. 16. If the apostle was under the necessity of duty "to have recourse" to Jesus, by the hypothesis a simple fellow-man, for those very blessings which the saints of old always sought from the only living God, was not his condition, though in the best and purest state of the New Testament church, incomparably more disadvantageous than that of the pious, under the dark dispensation of the Mosaic law? They always sought to the eternal God, as "a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress ;" but, behold the chief of the apostles, *in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, crying out to an invisible Man, and "praying unto him; and saying, Deliver me!" Ps. xliv. 17. Would not a Jewish saint have applied this keen reproach: "Lo! this is the man that made not God his strength !". Ps. lii. 7.

After shewing, in Letter VIII, Dr. Priestley's inaccuracy in several quotations in his "History of Early Opinions," the author draws

the following candid and charit able conclusion:

"I can by no means believe that Dr. Priestley would descend to the disho nesty of intentional misrepresentation. He might possibly employ some one to assist him in the irksome toil of collecting passages from the fathers; and he might place unmerited confidence in the fidelity of his coadjutor: or he might seek his passages by the commodious, but sometimes delusive, aid of indices rerum et verborum. It is also possible, that a strong previous belief of the idea, with a high confidence of finding it in the pages of Chrysostom and others, might produce an involuntary self-imposition; a state of mind which would convert

slight resemblances into determinate foundations of opinion. But, in whatever way the occurrence of such capital mistakes may be accounted for, if I have established the proof of their ex istence, it follows, That implicit reliance cannot be safely placed on Dr, Priestley's representations, even in cases of the plainest fact. Then, let the theological student, let every honest enquirer after truth, be on his guard when he seeks aid from" The History of Early Opinions" concerning Jesus Christ. But if I have advanced what is untrue, my ignorance or any wickedness can casily be detected."

We earnestly recommend these Letters to the serious and dispassionate perusal of the persons for whose eternal benefit we believe that, from the purest motives, they were written; and may the Father of Lights lead every sincere enquirer into just views of the person of Jesus Christ!

The Authenticity, uncorrupted Preservation, and Credibility of the New Testament. By Godfrey Less, late Professor in the University of Gottingen; and translated from the German by Roger King. don, A. M. of St. John's College, Cambridge. Sva, 75.

DR. LESS, the author of this book, was a professor in the University of Gottingen. For many years he entertained doubts respecting the divine authority of the New Testament. In order to remove

them, he studied the subject with particular attention. The result was both pleasing and profitable. His mind was fully satisfied; and the public is favoured with a valuable treatise in defence of the Authenticity, the uncorrupted Preservation, and the Credibility of the Gospel. That part of it which adduces the external proofs of the Authenticity of the New Testa ment, merits particular attention. Lardner has indeed quoted every passage of note from the fathers that can throw light on this part of the subject; but his works are in the possession but of few; and, from their size, can never become familiar to the mass of readers. To have what is most valuable of them brought into a small compass, that it may be of general utility, is an important service rend red to the public. This service Dr. Less has rendered; and he has enabled his readers to form an accurate idea of the nature and force of this part of the evidence, that the writings of the New Testament are genuine. We are not pleased with the manner in which he speaks of the Pook of the Revelation of St. John: here the spirit of system and veneration for the authority of others, have biassed his mind in opposition to the weight of evidence.

The uncorrupted preservation of the Books of the New Testament, which, to come who have never studied the subject, appears so difficult, he has proved, in a very satisfactory manner, and in a small space.

The proofs he brings forward in support of the credibility of the writings of the evangelists and apostles, are well chosen and ably stated. There is, towards the close, a very interesting section "On the Intolerance of the Old Pagan Systems," in answer to an assertion of Voltaire. In the following one, he displays the liberal spirit of the gospel.

For the temper with which the treatise is written, Dr. Less is entitled to much commendation; and his work is likely to be more extensively useful on that account. The asperity which some good and able men have indulged in this controversy, must exasperate every Deistical reader, and render the weight of their arguments of little avail. Let a man consult his own feelings when he meets with harsh and severe treatment, and is saluted with the worst names which lan guage can furnish, and then let him consider, that other people feel just in the same way.

Dr. Less will offend no one in this respect; and those who peruse his book will, without being it ritated by reproaches, be left calmly to weigh the force of his reasoning.

LITERARY NOTICES.

We understand that the Me moirs of a Colonel Blackader are in the press, and will soon be pub. lished. They consist of a Pretace, by Mr. Newton, of St. Mary Woolnoth; an Account of the Colonel's Parentage; large Extracts from a Diary, which he kept for near thirty years; and Extracts from his Letters to Mrs. Blackader. As the Colonel served under the great Duke of Marlborough, in all his campaigns in Germany, in the early part of the last century, and was in every battle fought by that General, the volume will be interesung, and calculated to do much good in the Army and Navy. Mr. Newton, we understand, speaks of Blackader as another Col. Gardiner.

A new edition is in the press, of a small Tract, entitled, Simph city recommended to Ministers of the Gospel;" which has been long out of print, and much called for.