reverse of Mr. Belsham's argument; and say, that if the proper divinity of Christ be once established, the doctrine of Atonement follows of course: but as the subject has been of late admirably treated, we content ourselves with referring the reader to Pretyman's Christian Theology,' and Dr. Magee's Discourses on Átonement and Sacrifice, besides Bishop Pearson's inestimable work on the Creed. On the importance of the doctrine of the 'Atonement, we may perhaps be permitted to transcribe a passage of the late Bishop Horsley's Sermon on Rom. iv. 25. in which, however, we have been anticipated by the Archdeacon.

"This doctrine of Atonement, by which the repenting sinner may recover, as it were, his lost character and innocence, and by which the involuntary deficiencies are supplied of his renewed obedience, is so full of comfort to the godly, so soothing to the natural fears of the awakened sinner's conscience, that it may be deemed a dreadful indication of the great obduracy of men, that a discovery of a scheme of mercy, which might have been expected to have been the great recommendation of the Gospel to a world lust and dead in trespasses and sins; the means of procuring it an easy and favorable reception, should itself have been made the ground of cavil and objection. And it is a still worse symptom of the hardened hearts of men, if among those who profess themselves disciples of a crucified Saviour, any may be found who allow no real efficacy to that blood which speaketh better things than the blood of Abel."-pp. 17, 18.

To return to the charge of infidelity which has given rise to this discussion: Mr. Belsham, in his fourth Letter to the Bishop of London, has the following words. "There are three of the criteria which your Lordship mentions, of which, to whomsoever they may apply, I should without hesitation admit that they are certain marks of unbelief in the Christian Revelation. These are, "bold, and your Lordship must no doubt mean, wilful, perversions of the Christian Scriptures"-" indecent insinuations against the veracity of the inspired writers,”—and " disrespectful reflec tions on the person and actions of their Saviour." "Persons who are really liable to these charges, and against whom they may be proved, are not Christians."

To perceive that the Unitarians must, in the fullest extent, plead guilty to these charges, the reader need only turn to a very ingenious and learned work of Dr. Laurence's, the present Regius Professor of Hebrew in the University of Oxford; to Mr. Daubeny's Remarks; and to Mr. Belsham's own Calm

1. Vol. ii. p. 146. sqq.

2 Critical Reflections on some important Misrepresentations contained in the Unitarian Version of the New Testament, 8vo. Oxford, 1811. 3 p. 43-59.

Enquiry. He will find that they reject the account of our Saviour's miraculous birth, for no better reason, than because it was omitted in the copies of certain early heretics, against whose opinions it directly militated, and who were proverbial for rejecting what did not fall in with their peculiar opinions; they having, like the Unitarians, formed a system of theology of their own-in aid of which the Bible was brought only when it could be done successfully. In this manner, and for this reason, some rejected the Epistles of St. Paul, and others the whole Old Testament, besides interpolating innumerable passages of what they retained. Dr. Marsh, however, has given complete proofs that these passages are genuine.

Now "faith and infidelity are correlative terms. By faith we understand, the belief of things revealed on the testimony of the divine word. By infidelity consequently must be understood, the rejection of such belief on such testimony." —The premises being thus established, the consequence follows of

course.

3

But while we oppose those, who reject the doctrine of salvation by the merits of Christ, unassisted by our own efforts and works; we must equally resist those who deny the necessity of our working together with God, by performing our part of the conditions of the Christian Covenant. Here, however, we must request not to be misunderstood. When we speak of performing our part of the Conditions, we do not mean to convey the idea of the absolute merit of good works; and when we talk of our working together with God, we do not intend to say, that our working is the cause of our salvation. We merely maintain the scriptural doctrine, that "not every one that saith, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of the Father which is in heaven."

The scriptural doctrine appears to be this: that we are saved or justified solely through the grace of God, for the merits of our Lord, and not for our own works or deserts. But at the same time there are certain Conditions proposed to us, namely, repentance, faith, and obedience, which if we accept and conform to (and not otherwise) God will justify us, by making us

Pp. 447. 451.

2 Notes to his Translation of Michaelis's Introduction to the New Testament, vol. iii. pt. ii. pp. 130. 137. 140. and Lectures in Divinity, pt. ii. p. 55. 8vo. Cambridge, 1811.-See also Professor Rau's Symbola ad quæstionem de authentia i. et ii. cap. Evang. Matthæi discutiendam. Erlanga, 1793.

3 Daubeny's Remarks, p. 39. NO. VII.

Aug. Rev.

partakers of the benefits of the death of Christ. Archdeacon Pott has set this matter in so clear a light,' that the reader will readily pardon us for delivering our notions in his words.

"The holy Baptist preached repentance, for none can be disciples of the Christian school, but such as will forsake their sins. Our Lord, when entering on his ministry, preached repentance and faith, saying, the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent ye, and believe the Gospel.' The same teachers instruct us how to build upon these foundations: accordingly, the Baptist says, bring forth, therefore, fruits meet for repentance; for no one can continue Christ's disciple, but such as will keep the precepts of their Master. Our Lord to the same effect declares, that every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, is hewn down, and cast into the fire and in that solemn charge and commission which he gave to his Apostles, he says, 'go ye, therefore, and teach all nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.' St. Paul unites the several parts of the Condition, and declares at once the order and the substance of it, when he relates to King Agrippa, that his preaching both to the Jews and Gentiles was, that they should repent, and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance. The baptismal vow, the particulars of which are repeated when the Christian Covenant is renewed at the table of the Lord, presents the same terms, and sets forth the same general obligations."

"The benefit of pardon, grace, and glory, will arise as the purchased blessings procured for us by the blood and merits of our only Saviour, though the grant of those gifts be suspended on Conditions, which are calculated to our best improvement, and graciously adapted to a state of trial or probation, consistent with our present circumstances and capacity. It will still remain indubitably clear, that those unspeakable advantages are procured for us by the Saviour's merits, they are bestowed only for his sake, and purchased at a price to which we contribute nothing; though the same gifts be coupled with such terms as are inseparable from the nature of a state of trial, and from the moral character of man.” 2

"Thus, then, it is one thing to be the only valuable Cause by which salvation is procured, and it is another thing to be the Condition upon which that gift is graciously bestowed. From the former, that is, from the meritorious Cause, we exclude not only our own works of every kind, but repentance and faith also. Under the latter, that is, under the Condition, we find repentance, faith, and obedience, to be constantly required. -The distinction here proposed, is not a nice or a subtle thing. The simplest man may understand the difference between the Cause and the Condition of his hope." 3

1 Considerations on the General Conditions of the Christian Covenant, 8vo. London, 1805, p. 1.

2

Considerations, p. 12.

3 Considerations, p. 13.-Respecting the error of the Church of Rome concerning this point, see the same work, p. 94: and for a complete demonstration that the terms Condition and Merit have no connection, see P. 109.

When our Creed on this subject is thus explicitly and distinctly stated, surely we ought not to hear the unjust and unwarrantable charge which is so generally brought against the established Church by rash and uncandid men, that we hold the abominable doctrine of merit, a doctrine which we dislike as much as can the strictest Calvinist. Indeed, the only difference between us on the mere point of justification, is, that they hold faith to be the only part of the Condition which it is necessary for us to perform; while we believe our part of the Covenant to be, repentance, faith, and obedience: in other words, while they. perform what we consider merely a part, we endeavour to perform what we think the whole.-We close our reflections in the words of Mr. Daubeny.'

"Whilst pressing the necessity of those works of righteousness, which under the Evangelical dispensation are expected from man, for the pur pose of qualifying him for the salvation which has been freely provided for him, he" (namely, the preacher of the Gospel) "will of course, as a master in Israel, in conformity with the doctrine of our Church, com pletely shut them out from the office of justifying. In this view of the subject, the whole salvation of fallen man, from justification on his admission into a state of grace at baptism, through his successive sanctification by the Holy Spirit, to his final perfection in glory, will be uniformly represented as having its beginning, its continuation, and its ending, in Jesus Christ: in whom, as we read, all the promises of God are yea and amen.'

"Should we indeed admit, that the works of righteousness required under the Gospel dispensation had been performed; for the performer of them to build his hope of salvation on the ground of his own personal merit, instead of placing it on the ground of that divine philanthropy, from which alone his title to it can be safely derived; is to tear up the foundation on which the Christian building stands. Whereas,' to use the words of the judicious Hooker, the little part we have in holiness, it is, God knoweth, corrupt and unsound; we put no confidence at all in it; we challenge nothing in the world for it; we dare not call God to reckoning, as if we had him in our debt books; our continued suit to him must be, to bear with our infirmities, and to pardon our offences.""

From all we have advanced, our readers will readily perceive the value of this Charge. We cannot, however, dismiss the subject, without wishing that it may be put into the hands of such as have not time or inclination to enter deeply into the controversies on which it treats. There can be no doubt but that it will occupy a distinguished place in the libraries of those, who are enabled, by leisure and opportunity, to study the subject in its different bearings; and who are well disposed to "fight the good fight of faith," to "contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the Saints," and to worship the God of

Remarks, p. 30-1.

2

See Homily on Salvation.

their fathers in spirit and in truth," as delivered in the book of wisdom, which "came out of the mouth of the most High; and covered the earth as a cloud: which hath made doctrine to shine as the morning; and sendeth forth her light afar off: which will get from out doctrine as prophecy; and leave it to all ages for ever."

ART. VI.-Chrestomathia Syriaca maximam partem ex Codd. manu scriptis collecta. Edidit Gustavus Knös. Göttingæ.

Small 8vo. pp. viii+ 120=128.

WHEN we consider the great utility of the Syriac language,

and also its extreme facility, we cannot refrain from expressing our surprise that it has not been more generally cultivated. While Hebrew has been carefully studied, and, to say the truth, very tolerably understood; and while the difficult and copious Arabic has been made the subject of deep and accurate investigation, the Syrian has received but a very small portion of attention, and its real merits seem to have been entirely overlooked: it appears to have been forgotten, that it was the vernacular tongue of the great founder of our faith and critics of eminence have ransacked the Hebrew, and resorted even to the Arabic, for a solution of difficulties, which a very slight attention to the Syriac idiom would have removed. Such has been the case, at least, in our own country: in Germany, it is true, it has met with better treatment. It is there made a subject for public lectures, and is a principal object of study among the candidates for orders. Michaelis, in his valuable Introduction to the N. T.,' has shewn its utility to an interpreter of the N. T.: and he says; "a knowledge of the Hebrew and the Syriac (under which latter language he includes the Chaldee,) on account of the Syriasms which are not to be learnt from the Septuagint, is absolutely indispensable."

In the Syriac tongue there are works, which may be very useful to any one who turns his attention to Oriental History. Such is the Chronicon Syriacum of Bar Hebræus, which was published by Bruns and Kirsch; and many more interesting passages of the same kind may be seen in Asseman's Bibliotheca

Vol. 1. pt. 1. p. 135. Ed. Marsh. 8vo. Lond. 1802. 2 Vol. 1. pt. 1. p. 179.