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For the accomplishment of this gracious purpose, one of the three persons in the Godhead took on himself the office of Redeemer; that in that character he might pay down the ransom necessary on the occasion. "We were redeemed (says the apostle) with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot; who verily was fore-ordained before the foundation of the world (1 Pet. i. 18;) according to the divine purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus, before the world began," 2 Tim. ii. 9.

The devil thinking, it is presumed, that as justice must be unchangeable, and cannot acquit without adequate satisfaction being made to it; and that satisfaction must be proportionate to the condition of the party against whom the sin has been committed; knowing at the same time that God was an infinite being, and that Adam was far from being such; consequently that no satis faction in this case could be made; his conclusion, it is probable, might be, that the medy; and that therefore he had prevailed against God, in becoming instrumental to the ruin of his new creation. But the devil was permitted thus far to triumph, in order that the inexhaustible riches of divine grace, wisdom, and power, might be more fully manifested, in the perfect recovery of fallen man; and the final overthrow of that spiritual enemy who had prevailed against him. The ever adorable mystery of God manifest in the flesh, removed all those insuperable difficulties which the sanguine thoughts of the devil had thrown in the way of man's recovery to his lost estate. For, according to this mystery of godliness, satisfaction was made by the same nature that had transgressed; and that satisfaction was full and adequate to the purpose, because the person who made it, was God as well as man: and though the Godhead cannot die, yet that person, in whom we are told the fulness of the Godhead dwelt bodily," actually did die; and by that death, in the character of the second Adam, recovered what had been lost by the first,"

situation of fallen man was without a re

All this may appear very well as part of the machinery of an epic poem; but is entirely out of its proper place in a work from which imagination ought to be carefully excluded.

The seventh discourse is from these words, "The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord," Rom. vi. 23. The principal subject of this discourse is the vicarious atonement for sin. A note is subjoined for the purpose of shewing, that the notion of such an atonement prevailed among the heathens. After a

few quotations in proof of this, Mr. D. passes on to the vindication of those. public schools in which this important fact is so successfully taught.

The eighth discourse, from Heb. xii. 1, consists chiefly of a recapitulation of the preceding seven.

It was not to be expected that in such a work as this, unitarians would escape the animadversion of the reverend author. They have accordingly their due dern infidel of an eccentric kind;" and share of abuse. Dr. Priestley is "a moall whose creed bears any resemblance to his, are "proud, deluded, ignorant believers in a lie," &c. &c. We had hoped that Mr. Daubeny would have paid some attention to their arguments, which we know do produce some effect upon unguarded minds; a task for which Mr. Daubeny seems admirably qualified, by his prodigious knowledge of types and figures, his vast acquaintance with the counsels both of heaven and of hell, and his critical skill in the Hebrew language, which has enabled him to inform his readers that signifies soap. But though he has disdained to employ argument, he has not refrained from invective and misrepresen

tation.

« The unitarian of the present day (as he is commonly, though improperly, distinguished), is, in a great measure, what the blind unconverted Jew was in St. Paul's day. He believes in one God. So likewise did the Jew. He has a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. Similar to this was the record which St. Paul bare to the religious character of his countrymen; Rom. x. 2. The unitarian, upon the ground of a supposed moral perfection, goes about to establish his own righteousness; and cannot submit himself to the righteousness of God. Such was precisely the case with the unbelieving Jew."

In this very accurate comparison, Mr. Daubeny has neglected to remind his readers of one very trifling difference between the two characters: the one, professing to receive Jesus as the promised Messiah, and reverently acknowledging his authority to reveal the will of God; the other, considering him as an impostor, coming in his own name, and deceiving the people! The scriptures seem to lay some stress upon the virtues of honesty and charity; and afford us some good ground to believe, that the want of these cannot be com

pensated even by that faith which could which would enable us to understand all remove mountains; nor that knowledge mysteries.

ART. XX. Remarks on the Doctrines of Justification by Faith, in a Letter to the Rev. JOHN OVERTON, A. B. Author of a Work entitled, "The true Churchman ascertained.” By EDWARD PEARSON, B. D. Rector of Rempstone, Nottinghamshire. 8vo. pp. 38.

ART. XXI. Remarks on the Controversy subsisting, or supposed to subsist, between the Arminian and Calvinistic Ministers of the Church of England; in a Second Letter to the Rev. JOHN OVERTON, &c. By E. PEARSON, &c. 8vo. pp. 102.

THE work which is the subject of the remarks contained in these two let ters, has been some time before the public; and, as might have been foreseen, has occasioned much inquiry and debate; one party, which is daily receiving reinforcements not only from the laity, but also from the younger clergy, considering it as an unanswerable defence of the calvinistic interpretation of the articles of the church, the other, feeling no small degree of well-founded apprehension, lest the interests of the church should suffer by the consequences which the prevalence of Calvinism amongst her ministers does inevitably produce. This controversy appears to us to render all the external danger, which our religious establishment has been accustomed to fear, comparatively insignificant, and to make those her enemies who are of her own household.' When men can once desert their parish church for the purpose of following a calvinistic or evangelical preacher, another step will lead them to the conventicle; for the discipline of the church they have no longer any reverence or regard, and upon the death or removal of a favourite minister, they are ready to join a society of dissenters already formed, or to create one themselves. They who are usually styled evangelical ministers may not be aware of this, but such indisputably is the tendency of their doctrine. One instance of this nature has already occurred. But to proceed to the works now before us.

Mr. Overton has laboured to prove, that according to the doctrine of the church, faith only, or faith without works, is the conditional or instrumental cause of justification; also that "good works are neither meritorious, nor the appointed condition of justification." If these positions be admitted, the doctrines of the church are so far calvinistic. But, says Mr. Pearson, the church in her homily on repentance; in her

catechism; in her forms of prayer to be used at sea; and in the office of the vi sitation of the sick, beginning with these words, "Our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath left power to his church to absolve all sinners who truly repent and believe in him," &c.; expressly declares, that repentance and faith, not faith only, are the conditions of forgiveness, and of being placed in a state of favour with God, Surely then, he observes, it is not cor rect to say, that the church considers faith alone as the condition, and conse quently not correct to assert that she is calvinistic.

As it is not our intention to enter into the merits of this controversy, which, as Mr. Pearson justly says, " is not a new one," though it appears to us now to wear a more formidable aspect; we must refer our readers to the tracts themselves; observing only, that they evince much accuracy of discrimination, and a spirit highly becoming the author's profession.

Both Mr. Pearson and Mr. Overton are zealous churchmen, and consider even the least deviation from what the church prescribes, either in doctrine or discipline, as encouraging, if not actu ally constituting, the "heinous sin of schism." Yet how is this sin to be avoided? "We," says Mr. Overton, "are the true churchmen, and Mr. Daubeny and his associates are dissenters from the church of England;" i. e. schismatics; lett. 2d. p. 32. But what says Mr. Pearson? "All the schisms which have happened among us, may justly be referred to the operation of calvinistic principles;" p. 86. Hence Mr. Overton and his associates, if not already schismatics, hold principles which will lead them thither. Now, which of these guides must a plain man follow? One of them certainly is wrong; yet each asserts, that he has the church, her articles, and her homilies on his side, Must he follow his own judge

ment? No; that is worse still: for, says Mr. P. lett. 2d. p. 78, "if individuals are to determine what doctrines are to be taught, and who is to teach them, what places and times are to be appropriated to public worship, and what rites and ceremonies are to be observed in it, what will soon become of Christianity among us?" By which he certainly means to insinuate, that Christianity would soon be lost. What! does Christianity depend for its existence upon observances which Mr. P. allows were not prescribed by Christ himself? p. 78. Does it rest no longer upon the sure word of prophecy, and the testimony of miracles? The author does not affirm this, for he then proceeds,

p. 78, "In the minds and hearts of true believers, indeed, it must ever reign as the guide of their lives, and the ground of their dearest hopes; but, considered as a church, as a body of men united in the same faith and worship, we shall probably look for it in vain." The term Christianity then, as explained by Mr. Pearson, means the church of England; and his inquiry amounts to nothing more than this: If the operations of private judgment were once allowed, what would become of the church? All her faithful sons will not thank him for this excess of fear; and many will lament that he has thus extenuated, if not removed, the "heinous sin of schism.”

ART. XXII. The Articles of the Church of England proved not to be Calvinistic: by THOMAS KIPLING, D. D. Dean of Peterborough, and late Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge. 8vo. pp. 91.

THE temper in which this pamphlet is written, is very different from that which is displayed by the preceding author; but the writer's object is more clearly obtained. Dr. Kipling so far forgets the character which he ought to sus tain as a gentleman and a Christian, as to impute to his adversaries falsehood and evil intentions; but his arguments are demonstrative and incontrovertible. His work is divided into three chapters. The first chapter is employed in stating the question at issue, and the method to be pursued in resolving it.

"Our calvinistic adversaries have attempted to demonstrate, that all the doctrines in Calvin's theory are in perfect correspondence with the Liturgy of our church. Their mode of reasoning is this: First, they have endeavoured to convince their readers by quotations, partly from Archbishop Usher, Bishop Jewell, Dean Nowell, Professor Whitaker, and Martin Luther, partly from the New Annual Register and the Critical Review, but mostly from the historians Strype, Fuller, Heylin, Burnet, Mosheim, Hurd, Hume, Robertson, and Smollet; that the compilers of our thirty-nine articles were Calvinists in sentiment: in the next place presuming, that no one will hereafter controvert this point, they have inferred from it, that those ARTICLES are calvinistic: and lastly, have concluded, that, because the Liturgy of our church must correspond with its articles, therefore this LITURGY is also

calvinistic.

"This external evidence, it must be confessed, is not without force. It is not, however, of all the evidence, which may be had,

for determining, whether the Liturgy of our church is in unison with Calvinism, the very best and most forcible. If the text of a work is unadulterated, and understood in the most certain method of discovering. the same sense throughout by every reader, whether the sentiments contained in it are calvinistic or not, is to compare its different parts with the publications of CALVIN. By this method we produce, as it were, that very work, the sentiments of which we are investigating, to speak for itself; and render all external testimony useless and nugatory.

of

"Seeing then that the learned have a correct edition of all Calvin's writings, that the text of our Liturgy is in every one's hands, and still genuine, and that there is no dispute among us about the meaning of any passage in it, I shall not, in this present inquiry, resort, as our adversaries have done, to other authorities; but for the purpose resolving this question, Whether is there an exact agreement between Calvin's doctrine of predestination, and our book of common prayer? shall closely adhere to the following simple plan: First, I shall shew, by extracts taken from Calvin's writings, what this author's doctrine of predestination is; and secondly, shall compare, not the whole of our Liturgy (for this would be an endless task), but so many and such parts of it, with this calvinistic doctrine, as will fully enable every person of candour and judgment to decide, whether this liturgy and this doctrine are in perfect harmony with each other."

trine of predestination, because "he beConfining himself to this single doc lieves that there is not one of Calvin's pecularities which may not be comprised under this single doctrine," Dr. Kip

ling, in the second chapter, shews, by a considerable number of extracts from the reformer's publications, "what that doctrine is."

In the third chapter he " compares so many and such parts of our Liturgy with this calvinistic doctrine, as will enable every candid and competent judge to determine, whether our Liturgy

and this doctrine are, as it is asserted, in perfect correspondence and harmony with each other" Every candid and competent judge, after an attentive perusal of these two chapters, must, we conceive, declare, that they are not. We do not desire more satisfactory evidence.

bigotted papist when he took part in drawing up the erudition, and a sound protestant when he compiled the articles; that in the former work he was assisted by those sanguinary monsters against the reformed, Bonner and Gardiner; and that in the thirty-nine articles, the homilies, and Liturgy, he had the aid of that great luminary of the reformation, Mr. John Calvin, &c.: surely I say, when these things are taken into consideration, we may easily account for the striking discord between the Erudition and the Articles." To prove these things however, not one argument, not one fact is adduced.

ART. XXIII. An Original Letter from a Gentleman to his Friend, giving a short Ac count of a Work, entitled PIA ET CATHOLICA INSTITUTIO, or "the necessary Erudition of a Christen Man," set forth in the Reign of King Henry the Eighth; chiefly intended as a Vindication of Archbishop CRANMER from the Charges of Inconsistency and of Arminianism, with particular Reference to the Bishop of Lincoln's Assertions in his Elements of Christian Theology. 8vo. pp. 23. THIS letter, written by a partisan of those who affix a calvinistic interpretation to the articles of our established church, was not, we learn, originally intended to be made public. It is a pity that any circumstances should have occurred to alter the author's former intention. The subject upon which he has undertaken to offer his opinion is curious and interesting, and deserving of more accurate attention than this writer seems either willing or able to bestow upon it. We suspected from the first sight of this pamphlet that even the title page contained an error; and, after much inquiry, our suspicion still remains. The Catholica Institutio was not the same book, we apprehend, as the Necessary Erudition: the former was printed in 1537; the latter in 1543. This is the account which is given by most of our historians. Collier tells us that they were two different works: and Strype himself does not positively assert the contrary.

But we object to more than the title page of this pamphlet. "If we prove," says the author, "that Cranmer was a

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Quid dignum tanto feret hic promissor hiatu?

"Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus."

Our author, no doubt, found assertion easier than proof; and less diffi culty in making than in fulfilling promises. We should be glad to see the subject of this letter undertaken by one qualified for the task.

ART. XXIV. Remarks on the Design and Formation of the Articles of the Church of England, intended to illustrate their true Meaning: a Sermon preached before the University of Oxford, at St. Mary's, on Sunday, February 14, 1802. By WILLIAM Lord Bishop of Bangor. 8vo. pp. 34.

THIS is the second part of a dis course preached before the university of Oxford in November 1800. In the former part, the right reverend preacher offered some remarks upon the origin and utility of creeds; in that now be fore us, he confines his attention to those large summaries of faith and religion called confessions, especially that of our

own church exhibited in the thirty-nine articles. He endeavours to shew that their meaning must be that, and that only, which was intended by the original imposers; that the best means to establish the exact and true sense of them, are to consider the causes which gave rise to them, as well as the various circumstances under which they were

Composed; and above all, to compare them with other confessions made by contemporary churches: that the means of comprehension intended were not any general ambiguity or equivocation of terms, but a prudent forbearance in all parties not to insist on the full extent of their opinions in matters not essential or fundamental; and in all cases to wave as much as possible tenets which might divide, where they wished to

unite; and that one main clue to the just interpretation of these articles, is a cautious regard not to ascribe to them any tenet which is not fully expressed; especially when the language therein used, compared with other contemporary confessions, is more restricted, and the doctrine less explicit. Upon these principles some of the articles are examined and illustrated.

ART. XXV: The Athanasian Creed vindicated and explained, in three Charges; by the late W. DÓDWELL, D.D. Archdeacon of Berks, and Rector of Shottesbrooke, in that County. 12mo. pp. 115.

HAD this posthumous publication, instead of being consigned to the printer, been buried in the grave of its author; we apprehend that the Christian world would have sustained no loss, nor the writer's name been less entitled to honourable remembrance. If the church, notwithstanding the counsels of some who have been her brightest ornaments, will keep this creed amidst her formularies, it were better that the minds of orthodox believers be not disturbed by any attempts to explain it. Let it be kept as a proof and an evidence of the great power of faith; but never let the

understanding be taught to regard it as
an object upon which it may exercise its
faculties. Unexplained and inexplicable
let it remain among those mysteries "at
which reason stands aghast, and faith
herself is half-confounded;" and, like
the sacred adamantine sphere of the
Druids,

"Which mov'd obsequious to the gentlest
touch
"Of him, whose breast was pure;"

let it be reserved to try the spirits, and
to keep without the holy pale every evil
heart of unbelief.

ART. XXVI. The Christian Guide, or an Attempt to explain, in a Series of connected Discourses, the leading Articles of Christianity: designed principally for the Use of Families and young Persons. By CHARLES PLUMPTRE, M.A. Rector of Long Newton, in the County of Durham. 8vo. pp. 349.

THESE discourses are thirteen in number, and their nature and design may be known from the author's own words:

next thing which I shall lay before you, will be the nature of the kingdom of Jesus Christ, which was given him because of his infinite love in condescending to become man, and making in his human nature reconciliation "I have studied as great plainness of lan- for mankind. This will lead me to consider guage as the different subjects treated of the form and constitution of that society would allow. It may be, that some of you upon earth, which Christ called his church, may be startled at the novelty of the plan; in which I shall say a few words respecting but I will beg the delay of opinion till I shall the appointment and office of the ministers have made some progress in it; by which which belong to it. I shall shew that, for time, I trust, I shall so far have opened the the purpose of assisting us in the performunderstanding as to convince all, that our ance of our duties, we have not only a Sareligion is more than a set of disunited pre- viour interceding for us at the right hand of cepts, and ineffectual points of faith. In God, but a divine helper, ever ready to anorder that you may be apprised of what I in- swer our petitions, and co-operate with our tend to prosecute in my design, I must fore- endeavours. My next subject will be two warn you that I shall begin with considering particulars, essential to our Christian callthe sad effects of man's disobedience in the ing, without beth which we can never begarden of Eden, which brought death into long to Christ's kingdom, nor receive the the world, and rendered human nature unfit benefits of it, which are therefore frequently for heavenly happiness: whence I shall shew and absolutely required of us: namely, faith you the nature of that covenant by which and repentance. The nature of the two sawe were again made capable of salvation, so craments, as they are called, will come next that as in Adam we all die, even so in under examination; which will be followed Christ we shall all be made alive." The by shewing the inward principle of mind

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