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they cannot entirely comprehend, settle in unwarranted scepticism, and deny altogether the influence of Divine Grace.' Vol. I. pp. 208, 9.

On the doctrine of Justification, likewise, the Author attempts to steer a middle course, and while he does not, with some of his brethren, rest it wholly upon works, he is still more anxious to guard his hearers against the opinion, which he pronounces most delusive and fatal, that faith alone is the ground of justification with God. But notwithstanding the flood of light which has been poured on this subject by Bishop Tomline and others with whom our Author seems to be particularly conversant, it will be evident to every theological reader, that his view of this doctrine is extremely confused, and that subjects are perpetually confounded, which ought to have been carefully distinguished. Should a person, for instance, sit down to read the Sermon on Faith and Works,' with a sincere desire to learn the method of Justification, what would such an inquirer be able to make of the following passage, which is nevertheless the most explicit and intelligible in the whole discourse?

The next consideration is, what is meant by being justified? Justification is not salvation. We are justified in this life, we are saved in the next. We are justified by faith in Christ: that is, we have put ourselves in the right way, we have begun well, we have laid a good foundation, we are so far justified: but if we stop here, if we do not build well upon this foundation, if our lives and conversation are not suitable to our faith, our justification is incomplete, and cannot lead to salvation.

Nothing can well be more intelligible than this, or more reasonable. But from some cause or other, probably in a great degree from the wilful misrepresentations of the Jews; a different notion, the same error that still prevails in some minds, soon got abroad. And this produced the Epistle of St. James, who wrote to rectify not any mistake of St. Paul, but the mistake of those who put a different. sense upon that Apostle's words, from that which he intended them to hear. From hence it appears, that there is no inconsistency between the two Apostles; but that the doctrine of our Church is fully authorized by the Holy Scriptures. That doctrine is, that justification commences by faith, and is completed by good works: and that good works therefore are essential, but not alone sufficient, for salvation.” Vol. I. pp. 222-224.

But in order fully to appreciate the orthodoxy of the above statement, it is necessary to take into the account, what are the views entertained by this clergyman, of the nature of justifying faith. There are several passages in these Sermons, in which the Writer most distinctly states, that faith is nothing more than a persuasion of the truth of our Saviour's historyIn one place, after having cautioned his hearers, against the

strange, mysterious kind of faith for which Calvin and his followers plead, he adds,

Let us, my brethren, not so learn Christ. Let us found our faith upon a calm, deliberate, unprejudiced examination of the proofs we possess of the truth of our Saviour's history If we are not capable of that examination, let us rely upon the evidence of those multitudes of good and able men, who have investigated it, and been convinced But let us not give way to the suggestions of enthusiasm, to fancied illumination, or imaginary predestination.' Vol. I. p. 228.

In the discourse upon The Communion,' he writes thus:

A lively faith is here as elsewhere opposed to a dead faith, that is, a faith that is sincere, and proves itself to be so, by a life correspondent to it; and not a mere formal profession of belief, either unsupported by good actions, or contradicted by evil ones. And it is a most important consideration, how we are to attain this lively faith, which is however neither more nor less than the belief of an historical fact: namely, that Jesus Christ lived and died as related in the books of the New Testament, and particularly by the four Evangelists. Now this fact can only be ascertained, like all other matters of history, by weighing and comparing the evidence by which it is established. It becomes therefore the indispensable duty of every man, to make this investigation, so long as a particle of doubt remains upon his mind; until his faith acquires the utmost force of conviction, and becomes necessarily the rule of his conduct.' Vol. I. pp. 277, 278.

But as some, from the limited capacity of their understandings, or their want of the means of investigation, may not be able to pursue this inquiry, and so arrive at such saving faith, our Theologian puts them into a much shorter and simpler method of obtaining it, which cannot fail to succeed.

But should there remain some, who from weakness of understanding, or the want of cultivation, are incapable of any enquiry of this sort; they may still rest their belief upon a ground that will not deceive them. They may safely confide in the religion of their forefathers a religion which has now subsisted for eighteen centuries, and embraces in its profession nearly the whole civilized world. They may rely upon a creed, which philosophers have examined, and for which martyrs have bled. And in this way, they may possess "a faith in God's mercy through Christ," which will inevitably lead them to have "a thankful remembrance of his death." For although there are many doctrines, about which Christians are divided amongst themselves; there are none (so far as I know) who believe in Christ, who doubt that " he died for our sins, and rose again for our justification;" and consequently there are none, who can regard his death, with other feelings than those of the deepest gratitude.' Vol. I. pp. 279, 280.

The preceding extracts exhibit the leading articles of the Author's creed, and will, we think, justify our classing him with the fashionable theologians of the age. There is, how

ever, one passage, in which so unjust and unwarrantable an attack is made upon the memory and doctrines of Calvin, that we cannot permit it to pass unnoticed.

When a man' (says Mr. R.) has once persuaded himself, that all that is required for his salvation, is a bare faith, "a dead faith," as the Apostle calls it, a faith that produces no fruit, his mind is then prepared for a life of apathy, and uselessness to his fellow-creatures, if not for a course of wickedness and crime. In truth, what has he to restrain him from vice? Sin appears before him disarmed of its terrors. He is tempted, and he yields. He believes, and he is safe. Nor does the misfortune stop here. A mind that is not shocked by It can admit this absurdity, has no limit to its capacity for error. even the monstrous doctrine, that the more he sins, the greater is his security; and, full of his imagined sanctity, he commits (he flatters himself with impunity) even the very worst of crimes. Nor can we be surprised at this, when we find the founder of this mischievous doctrine, deliberately recording this, and many other similar opinions. "It is true (says he) that their own sins, under the direction of God's Providence, are so far from injuring the saints, that they rather promote their salvation." Can a stronger inducement to wickedness be held out? Vol. I. pp. 226, 227.

Now, besides the manifest injustice of charging tenets like these, upon those who are denominated Calvinists, which we can hardly number among the Author's sins of ignorance, there is something extremely unfair and insidious in the manner in which this supposed extract from Calvin's writings is introduced. The name of the Reformer is mentioned at the footof the page, but there is no reference to any part of his works, no citation from the original, in the language in which it was written; no means are afforded by which the reader may ascertain the accuracy of the reference, or judge of the correctness of the version. We have no ambition to become apologists for all the actions or opinions of Calvin; but we cannot, in the absence of further evidence, bring ourselves to believe, that Calvin ever wrote, in so unqualified terms, so highly objectionable asentence. Were the passage in question seen in the original, and in its connexion, it would probably exhibit a very different aspect. If, however, it were possible that so good and so great a man as Calvin, uttered such a sentiment, Mr. R. knows, or might know, that such a tenet is as abhorrent to the feelings of modern Calvinists, as it is to his own, and that there would not be found an advocate for such a dead faith,' or an apologist for conduct so vicious, unless it be among the Antinomians or Hyper-Calvinists with which the Christian Church is at present infested, and of whom no one would be more ashamed than Calvin himself.

Art. VI. Iceland; or the Journal of a Residence in that Island, during the Years 1814 and 1815. By Eben. Henderson, Doctor in Philosophy.. (Concluded from page 196.)

DR. HENDERSON was delighted with the fine situation and magnificent prospects of the farm of Reykiaholar, and with an aquatic excursion among the islands of the Breidafiord, with their boiling springs and infinite assemblages of wild fowl. As I passed between the islands,' he says, ' my ears were stunned with the cries of sea-parrots and crees, the latter of which abounded in such numbers that they completely covered the surface of the water, and on rising, almost darkened the atmosphere.' In the islands, the eider-ducks and their nests were observed and examined with much curiosity. Most of these islands have been thrown up by submarine volcanos, and many of them rest on superb perpendicular pillars of basaltic rock.' Some of them are well inhabited. Parts of the mainland coast of this bay display immense walls of basaltic configuration. The mountains exhibit some very extensive strata of the same kind of rock. At one place, where the mountain streams have 'forced their way through beds of the columnar rock, numerous turrets and spires present themselves amidst the clouds of mist arising from the water-falls.'

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In Isafiord Dr. H. had a very narrow escape from death, in crossing a sloping bed of ice, near the brink of a profound chasm, bearing a name indicative of its having been fatal to many adventurers. His horse fell, and sliding still nearer than himself to the verge, displayed, we must be allowed to say, an admirable presence of mind, in the extreme peril, acting in the only possible way by which he could be saved from destruction. The people of this most north-western part of the island, retain more of the Scandinavian ideas and customs than the other inhabitants, being faithful retainers of old traditions, and indefatigable transcribers, reciters, and moral critics, of the sagas. The assertion which had been hazarded, that this portion of the country had always remained opaque, while the rest had been illuminated by volcanic fires, was contradicted to our observer's eyes, by the accustomed but always solemn spectacle of lava, and the mountain cavern which had in some remote age poured it forth.

The name has already occurred of surturbrand or mineralized wood. It is a most remarkable circumstance in the constitution of the island, that a bed of this substance extends through the whole of the north-western peninsula. At Briamslaek it was presented with great distinctness to our Author's view, in a deep cleft cut through a large hill by a torrent from the mountains. The more perpendicular side of this chasm

⚫ Consists of ten or twelve strata of surturbrand, lava, basalt, tuffa,

[graphic]

and indurated clay, successively piled above each other. The surturbrand is undermost, and occupies four layers which are separated from each other by intermediate beds of soft sand-stone or clay. These layers are of unequal thickness, from a foot and a half to three feet, and run to the length of about thirty yards, when they disappear in the debris. They differ also in quality: the two lowes exhibiting the most perfect specimens of mineralized wood, tree from all foreign admixture, of a jet black; and such pieces as have been exposed to the sun, shine with great lustre, and are very splintery in their fracture. The numerous knots, roots, &c. and the annual circles observable in the ends of the trunks or branches, removed every doubt of the vegetable origin of this curious substance. The only changes it has undergone are induration and compression: having been impregnated with bituminous sap, and flattened by the enormous weight of the superincumbent rocks. Some few branches stretch at times across the bed, but in general they all lie parallel with one another, and are frequently pressed together, so as to form a solid mass. The third stratum is not so pure, being mixed with a considerable portion of ferruginous matter; grey generally, but biack in the fracture; has no lustre, and is much heavier than the former, yet possesses evident traits of its vegetable character. The fourth or uppermost stratum consists of what the Icelanders call steinbrand, or coal, from which it differs only in the absence of the gloss, and its containing a quantity of earthy matter. It still retains some faint marks of wood

Remarkable as this appearance of rock-wood undoubtedly is, a still more surprising phenomenon makes its appearance between the second and third strata, viz. a bed of dark grey schistus, about four inches in thickness, that admits of being divided into numerous thin plates, many of which possess the tenuity of the finest writing paper, and discover on both sides the most beautiful and accurate impressions of leaves, with all their ramifications of ribs and fibres, in the best state of preservation. The whole of the schistose body is, in fact, nothing but an accumulation of leaves closely pressed together, and partially interlaid with a fine alluvial clay. It is also worthy of notice, that when you separate any of the leaves from the mass, they are uniformly of a greyish or brown colour on the surface, and black on the opposite side. Most of those on the specimens now before me are of the common poplar, (populus tremula), and some of them, in the judgement of an eminent botanical gentleman (Professor Hornemann, of Copenhagen), appear to be of the populus takkamahaka. A few birch and willow leaves are also observable, but very small in size: whereas many of the poplar leaves are upwards of three inches in breadth.'

Dr H.'s speculations on these marvellous phenomena, are quite satisfactory to the extent of shewing that the depositions cannot have been effected by volcanic agency, notwithstanding that lava is always, he says, found in greater or less quantities in the vicinity of these strata, but are to be attributed, in some way or other, to the prevalence of water; beyond this general conclusion all appears to us submerged in unfathomable mystery.

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