points relating to moral evil, while they are not only neglecting to assist others to escape impending danger, but are themselves neglecting that great salvation without which escape is impossible.

"If we advert to the station which God occupies as the Governor of the world, as contrasted with the place which we occupy as individual subjects of his government; and at the same time bear in recollection the amazing disparity there is, both in natural and moral attributes, between him and ourselves; we shall see, that while he must needs be qualified, we must needs be unqualified to form any decisions on the subject of future retribution beyond what he has been pleased to communicate.

"Among the materials which would be requisite as data, to enable us to speak in positive terms on the subject of future punishment, are the following:

"A perfect knowledge of the evil of sin :

"Perfect knowledge both of the amount of guilt incurred by each individual transgressor, of the degree of suffering which each shall endure, and of the proportion which shall subsist between the one and the other and

"Perfect knowledge of the ends which punishment is designed to answer.

"A little reflection will suffice to convince us that on no one of these points can we pretend to any thing like the necessary information.

sin.

[1.] We do not fully know the evil of

"We do not fully know any thing; and on the subject of sin there is an obstacle of a very formidable nature in the way of our knowledge. We are ourselves sinful. We are so conversant with sin as committed by our fellow-creatures, and are naturally so much in love with sin our selves, as to be strongly prepossessed in favour of it; and are therefore incapacitated for forming an accurate conception of its true character. Our giving an opinion on the subject of the evil of sin, is as if a number of persons should take upon themselves to pronounce a judgment on the qualities of an impure atmosphere, who had been born and bred in that very atmosphere, and had never breathed any other. It would not be surprising if such persons should contend that their native air was perfectly good. Holy angels, who have inhaled the pure air of heaven, would be better qualified to form a judgment on the question; but human beings, who have always lived amidst the noisome exhalations of sin, ought to confess themselves incompetent to the task.

"[2.] We do not know the amount of guilt which each individual has contracted; nor the degree of suffering which each shall endure; nor the proportion which subsists between the one and the other.

"We know, or may know, more of our own character than we can ascertain of the character of others; and yet it is but little we know of ourselves. It is probable that we have been guilty of many offences, of which, through criminal inattention, we took no account. It is probable, too, that many things which we acknowledged to be faults, were much more heinous in God's sight than they were in our own; so that, on the whole, there is reason to believe that we have a very inadequate conception of the total amount of our own guilt; much less can we have a full knowledge of the guilt of others.

"Equally ignorant are we of the degree of suffering which each shall endure. The terms on which future punishment is set forth, lead to the conviction that it shall be eternal, and also that it shall be great; but how great we cannot tell. One thing is most manifest, that the punishment of all will not be equal. We read that it shall be more tolerable' for some than for others in the day of judgment; and that some shall be beaten with few stripes," and some with many stripes;' but how many stripes shall be laid on each we cannot tell.

"Since we know neither the amount of guilt of any individual, nor the degree of suffering which each shall endure; it follows, of course, that we cannot form a judgment of the proportion between the one and the other; no words being necessary to prove that if the relation between two things is to be ascertained, the things themselves must first be distinctly seen.

"We apprehend, in the general, that the design of punishment is just the opposite of the effect of sin; that whereas sin dishonours God, the punishment of sin will vindicate the honour of his law and government; and that whereas sin is injurious to the creatures of God, the punishment of sin will counteract the injurious effects which sin, if not followed by punishment, would occasion. Punishment inflicted on offenders, during their state of probation, we consider to be calculated to benefit themselves as well as others. Punishment inflicted on offenders, after their period of probation has terminated, is calculated, we suppose, to benefit others, though the sufferers be out of the reach of benefit. But how great the extent of this benefit may be ;-how many millions of rational beings, human and angelic, will gain moral good from their knowledge of the punishment of incorrigible offenders ;-how much good they will thence derive, by being led to see in a true light the dreadful malignity of sin, the strictness of God's holy law, and the indispensable necessity of well-doing in order to happi

"Of no one of these particulars have we a thorough knowledge; and yet a complete acquaintance with them all is necessary, to enable us to decide on the justice and expediency of future punishment; and in the absence of any one of these items of knowledge it is presumptuous, in the highest degree, for any man to affirm that the suffering predicted in the Holy Scriptures is either unjust or unnecessary. For the same reason, it would be unreasonable for any one to harbour a prejudice against the Scriptures on account of their containing threatnings of future punish

ment.

"For a creature like man, so ignorant and so sinful, to take upon him to arraign the divine government because it includes punishment, is as if a little child should find fault with the jurisprudence of his native country, or as if a malefactor should rail at the law which consigns him to deserved suffering.

"While man is confessedly ignorant on all the points above-named, God must be acknowledged to possess the most perfect knowledge respecting them all. Since, therefore, he fully knows what sin is, being alike incapable either of extenuating or of exaggerating its malignity; since he fully knows the exact amount of guilt which each one who shall be punished shall have contracted; and since he also fully knows the ends which punishment is adapted to answer; and is never disposed to inflict suffering without or beyond necessity; we may rest assured both that the future sufferings of the impenitent will be just as to the individual sufferers, and necessary with relation to the moral government of God at large."-pp. 288-293.

This is a large extract, but its importance fully justifies its insertion. We could easily proceed to other passages, especially from the more practical parts of the volume, but we forbear. Sufficient has been said to prove the value of the work. It is, in fact, a compendium of divinity, on all the essential principles of the Christian system, and a magazine of well assorted weapons for its

defence against opposite principles. It is not on some points as expansive and discursive as we could have wished, though we can easily imagine that the hints and topics were amplified in the delivery of the lectures, so as to secure their full and legitimate impression. In reading, however, this deficiency, is not of so much consequence. In many parts of the work the author reminds us of the simplicity, perspicuity, and condensation of Paley; while the tone of seriousness and spirituality is such as to render it highly valuable to those who may not be able to appreciate the entire force and validity of its elaborate and powerful argumentation. We commend the volume especially to our young friends, who are desirous of attaining solid and comprehensive views of divine truth, and are anxious to be clothed with "the armour of righteousness on the right hand and the left." If judicious parents, or preceptors, would make the work a text-book, for the guidance and direction of those who are advancing to maturity, they would then feel themselves under eminent obligations to its respected author. It supplies valuable materials both for thought and conversation; and, we doubt not, that in proportion to the attention which is devoted to it, will be the grateful estimate of its worth.

This profession of the worthy author is fully supported by internal evidence, and in part accounts for both the excellences and defects of the sermons themselves. A heart glowing with devotion to evangelical truth, beams on many a page, and an eloquence kindled and sustained by zeal in the cause of righteousness, burns as it flows. Who would not earnestly desire that, combined with endowments so estimable and important, there might be found well digested views of scriptural truths, together with wisdom, adopting the best means to attain the highest end? Who would not wish that on occasions so interesting, and before persons whose very professional engagements keep them alive to the difference between declamation and argument, and habituate them to the expectation of evidence on every point, the most important truths should be commended to the understanding as well as to the heart, by the soundest reasoning as well as the most forcible appeals; that they should not only be enforced by human eloquence, but be exhibited in their native radiance of heavenly light. These desires have not been fulfilled by the sermons before us; nor does the plea of frequent interruptions and pressing engagements altogether reconcile us to the disappointment, much less to the subsequent publication. Cordial esteem for the author, and concern for the reputation, in certain quarters, of that cause which he so fervently advocates, induce regret that the latter measure was adopted.

The first sermon, on Paul's reasoning before Felix, Acts xxiv. 25, is entitled, "The Righteousness of the Law." It commences with the history of the apprehension of the apostle, and of subsequent events down to that announced in the text; adverts to

na

the topics by which Paul commended the faith of Christ on the "common principles of our ture," in accordance with which no one, it is asserted, can be a "real infidel;" proceeds to a comparison between the laws of our country, then about to be publicly administered, and the law of God, to which all mankind are amenable; explains some of the requirements of the divine law by copious extracts from our Lord's sermon on the mount; illustrates, by an application of Rom. iii. 10-18, the awful fact that "all have sinned;" remarks, that though legal ministrations may alarm the conscience, they cannot make a sinner love God; and closes by recommending "the cross of Christ" as the only medium of reconciliation and final happiness.

In this discourse there is much to commend; but to certain passages we must advert, because they betray a degree of obliquity, or, at least, of obscurity in the author's conceptions upon some important topics. Speaking of real infidels, who are characterized as having resisted conviction, till God has, in judgment, hardened their hearts, the preacher observes:

"I am unwilling to think that there is even one such man in this church; but if there be, I do not speak to him, for he who hath sent me, hath said unto me,

Cast not your pearls before swine,' and hath instructed me, that there is a sin unto death,' for which we are not commanded even to pray."-pp. 6, 7.

This, to speak in the gentlest terms is incautiously put. The passages of Scripture, on authority of which, as it appears, every real infidel is invested with most dreadful attributes, do not specifically apply to his case. And if they do, why not "speak to him," teaching, warning, and admonishing him? The Lord Jesus did so, according to one of the passages quoted, (John xii. 39, 40,) and has charged his ministers

To affirm that "all are at the absolute disposal of God for eternity," p. 7, is incompatible with their moral accountability, and conveys an impression highly dangerous. There are some expressions respecting the moral law, which induce us to wish that the preacher would review, and compare with Scripture, his mode of speaking on the subject. There is no ground for the slightest suspicion of a tendency to Antinomianism, but there does appear a want of well-defined views respecting the origin and character of that law. From some passages, readers might infer, that the moral law itself originated at Mount Sinai, (pp. 8, 9;) that instead of containing the instructions of God to his creatures, respecting the rule of duty, it enforced matter of arbitrary imposition with inexorable rigour, (p. 15;) and that it is impracticable by man, on other grounds than his criminal indisposition to perfect obedience, (p. 22.)

In the application of Rom. iii. occur powerful and eloquent pas sages. But sweeping censures have rarely any practical good influence; and admonition, in order to be effective, must rest on facts either acknowledged or previously established; it otherwise is apt to degenerate into mere declamation, and is adapted to excite prejudice rather than produce contrition. These remarks, however, will not apply to the whole of this part of the discourse. The following passage is given as a specimen of a different kind.

“Their feet are swift to shed blood. Mur.

der is of rare occurrence; and to this clause

of the Apostolical indictment, therefore, it may appear at first sight that we can truly plead not guilty; but when we refer to the spiritual standard of righteousness which God hath set up, we shall think otherwise. How early is the propensity to blood-shedding manifested in the cru

elties which children instinctively practise upon birds and insects, and tame animals. And what shall we say of hundreds and thousands of men and women assembling in eager and tumultuous excitement to witness the bloody scene of a few dogs tearing an unhappy hull, or an infuriated bull goring to death some one or more of those savage dogs? What shall we say of our gentry, and even our seuators themselves, assembling in like manner to the more aggravated scene of blood between two of their fellow-creatures, trained to the ready use of their most impetuous strength, that they may beat one another, not to blood only, but to broken bones,

and sometimes even to death? What shall we say of that honour, as it is preposterously termed, which has recourse for its vindication to a frightful mixture of suicide and murder; flying in the face of Almighty God, rather than bear an insult from a perishing fellow worm? Or what shall be said of that society which looks down with contempt, perhaps scornfully spurns from its circle, the man who has too much real courage to condescend to the cowardice of a duel? And if in this, as in other instances, the accessary be a partaker in the guilt of the principal, the abettor and receiver in the guilt of the thief, what shall we say of the cold calculation which justifies, or the heartless apathy which disregards, or the selfish gratification which tends to perpetuate the use of the blood-stained whip as a stimulant to human labour?"-pp. 19, 20.

The second sermon, founded on Jer. ii. 19, is entitled, "National declension from God, and national warning." After a few remarks on the duty and wisdom of dependance on God, the preacher draws an interesting picture of a worshipping assembly, comprizing all classes of the community-interesting indeed, "if the scene were really, in the sight of God, what it seemeth to be in the eyes of men;"-but he boldly maintains, that, on the contrary, nobles and official persons engage in such a service, not from the fear of God, but "because commanded

by the state;" and that the people are mostly attracted thither by idle curiosity. Hence the preacher infers the propriety of his application of the text; and, descending to particulars, descants on the vices of the parochial clergy; admonishes the king, and the bishops,

in the renowned expostulations of Latimer; remarks on the irreligion of manufacturers, agriculturists, and statesmen; gives warning of approaching judgments, and exhorts to repentance. The following passage will not, it is hoped, be delivered in vain.

"My brethren, Christianity came perfect and entire from the hands of its Divine Author, and will admit of no mutilations or improvements by the hands of man. When under pretence of simplifying it, we attempt to hide any of its more mysterious features from the people, we mar the fair symmetry of the daughter of heaven, and present a monster of our own imagination to the view. This is done under the guise of a regard for morality, but it uniformly defeats its own object. And what do we now see around us? The peculiar motives by which the inspired writers enforce their moral lessons, or, in other words, the peculiar doctrines of the Gospel of salvation by Christ Jesus, have no place in the fashionable systems of moral instruction, or if a place, it is a place of formality. They are committed to the tongue in the language of a catechism, but not afterwards dilated, explained, and insisted upon, as not only the powerful springs, but the only acceptable sources of Christian practice. On the contrary, the motives almost exclusively urged, are such as take their rise from the present state, founded on reputation, on honour, on health, or on the tendency of the things recommended to promote, under some form or other, the acquisition of worldly advantages. Thus, even morality itself, by dissociating it from religion, is made to cherish the love of the world, and to bar the heart more effectually against the approaches of piety (Hall's Sermon on the Fast, 1803). Now nothing but the entrance of true piety can renew the desperately wicked heart of fallen man, or restrain him from the commission of those excesses, to which he is peculiarly tempted by his situation and circumstances

in society. The knowledge of the people has been proverbially advancing; but knowledge without the controlling power of right religion, is an evil and not a good,

for it renders a man a more expert instru

ment in the hands of the devil; and this explains the mystery of the multitude of young well-informed persons to be found on the list of prisoners in every county."

-pp. 28-30.

Were not the following passage on so serious a subject, some parts of it we guess would excite a smile, by the incongruous association of

things great and little, of things awfully important and merely hypothetical, which it sets before them.

"Repent, therefore, my lords and brethren. Let each of us, as an individual, turn with purpose of heart to the Lord our God, and cry mightily unto him, first for our own sins, and then for the sins of our fellow-countrymen. Let the king proclaim a fast, let the bishops draw up a form of prayer for national humiliation; and let the priests, the ministers of God, attract the attention of the whole nation to the warning hand and voice of Jehovah. Let them declare also his revealed will concerning Babylon; and let England be assured, that if she make common cause with the beast, renouncing her fidelity to her Lord, and admitting to the bosom of her counsels the idolatrous children of the mother of harlots; let England be assured, from the clear word of prophecy, that if she adopt this course, the vial of wrath, which is now ready to burst upon the papal kingdoms, will extend also to her, and overwhelm her in the common ruin." -p. 50,

There are other passages in a similar oracular style. But notwithstanding some recent attempts to introduce to the pulpit the tone and manner of ancient Jewish prophets, we are inclined to think, that the style of preaching adopted by Christ and his Apostles, are more deserving the imitation of ministers. young

The third sermon, founded on Dan. ii. 44, is entitled, "The kingdom of Christ in the earth." It opens with some remarks on the importance of attending to unfulfilled prophecy;-recites at large the vision of Nebuchadnezzar, with Daniel's interpretation of it;-enquires, who is to be king, and who his companions, and what the nature of the government in that glorious kingdom, and when the kingdom shall come;

and finally, concludes with admonitions to both rulers and subjects.

The introductory sentences exhibit a position, which to some readers may be rather startling; and we must candidly confess, that, at the first glance over them,