Art. V. Letters to a Friend on the Evidences, Doctrines, and Duties of the IN pursuance of our design of giving a pretty copious analysis of this interesting publication, we proceed to notice the most important positions and reasonings contained in the second volume, which the author has devoted to a display of the doctrines and duties of Christianity. We are aware that many will suspect him of a partial and bigoted attachment to his own opinions, in consequence of the anxiety he manifests to communicate and support those views of Christianity, which, in his estimation, form its most striking peculiarity. It is plain our author considers the evidences of Christianity as entirely subservient to its doctrines; and that he is consequently far from supposing, with some modern divines, that he has accomplished his work by proving that Christianity is a true and a genuine revelation from God. He judges it necessary to spend some time. and some labour in considering what it is that is true, what it is that is revealed. Were we not familiar with the fact, we should not be a little surprised at the prevalence of a contrary persuasion: we should probably think it strange that such an anxiety should be evinced to rest the truth of Christianity on the firmest possible basis, along with such a profound indifference to every attempt to investigate its import. Some wonderful charm, it seems, is contained in a bare avowal that Christianity is a revelation from God, apart from any distinct perception of its truths, or any solemn advertence to its genuine scope and tendency. Embalmed and preserved like some Egyptian monarch, in the form of a venerable and antiquated document, it is to be carefully kept, and always approached with respect, but never allowed to take its place among the living, nor supposed to be useful to mankind according to any known law of operation. The most magnificent appellations are applied to it, it is the light of the world, the true riches, the treasure hid in the field, and the pearl of great price: all these, and a thousand other encomiums are lavished on the scriptures by men, who at the same time feel no scruple in insinuating that this boasted communication from heaven contains no truths beyond the limits of reason, and that what the bulk of Christians in our ages have deemed such, are the distempered visions of enthusiasm, if they are not, in some instances, to be ascribed to the erroneous conceptions entertained by the Apostles of the religion they were appointed to propagate. It is the possession of a revela tion, not the use, which these men are accustomed to contem. plate and to value. As the miser conceives himself rich by the VOL. VIII. P 2 treasure which he never employs, so the persons to whom we allude, suppose themselves enlightened by a book from which they profess to derive no information, and saved by a religion which is allowed to engage little or none of their attention. This is one of the most distinguished features in the character of those, who with exemplary modesty style themselves rational Christians. In this spirit, a distinguished prelate of the present age has published a collection of tracts for the benefit of the junior clergy, in which not a single treatise is admitted, which professes to exhibit a view of Christian doctrine, and has introduced it with a preface, ingeniously calculated, under pretence of decrying dogmas, to bring all such inquiries into contempt. It certainly is not difficult to perceive whence this manner of thinking proceeds, nor whither it tends. It proceeds from a rooted aversion to the genuine truths of revelation; and, had it not received a timely check, would have terminated in the general prevalence of scepticism. It presents a neutral ground, on which professed Christians and infidels may meet, and proceed to assail with their joint force the substantial truth of our religion. There is nothing in such views of Christianity to appal the infidel; nothing to mortify the pride, nothing to check or control the exorbitances, of that "carnal mind" which is 66 enmity against God." In stripping the religion of Christ of all that is spiritual, it renders it weak and inefficacious as an instrument of renovating the mind; and by fostering its pride, and sparing its corruption, prepares it for shaking off the restraints of religion altogether. It gives us, however, unfeigned satisfaction to perceive that the evil we so much deprecate, appears to have met with a fatal check; and that the present times are distinguished by two things, which we cannot but consider as most favourable prognostics,-an increased attention to the peculiar doctrines of Christianity, and a growing unanimity with respect to the modes in which those doctrines are entertained. There is less disposition on the one hand to receive for Christianity a system of Pagan ethics, and on the other to confound points of doubtful speculation with its fundamental doctrines. The religious zeal of the present day is more noble and catholic than in former times, partaking less of the acrimony of party, and more of the inspiration of truth and charity. The line of demarcation betwixt sound doctrines and heresy, is better ascertained, than it has ever been before; and the Christian world are equally averse to whatever approaches to Socinian impiety, and to the mooting of interminable questions. In the statement of the peculiar doctrines of Christianity, there are two extremes to be avoided. The one is, that of pusillanimously shrinking from their bold originality, and attempting to recommend them to the acceptance of proud and worldly-minded men by the artifices of palliation and disguiseof which, in our opinion, the Bishop of Lincoln has given an egregious specimen in his late work; the other extreme is that of stating them in a metaphysical form, mixing doubtful deductions with plain assertions, and thereby incumbering them with needless subtleties and refinements. We should neither be ashamed of the dictates of the spirit, nor "add to his words lest we be reproved." They will always appear with the most advantage, and carry the most conviction, when they are exhibited in their native simplicity, without being mixed with heterogeneous matter, or with positions of doubtful authority. In our apprehension, the true way of contemplating the peculiar doctrines of Christianity, is to consider them as facts believed on the authority of the Supreme Being, not to be proved by reason, since their truth does not result from any perceptible relations in our ideas, but they owe their existence entirely to the will and counsel of the Almighty Potentate. On this account we never consider it safe to rest their truth on a philosophical basis, nor imagine it is possible to add to their evidence by an elaborate train of reasoning. Let the fair grammatical import of scripture language be investigated, and whatever propositions are by an easy and natural interpretation deducible from thence, let them be received as the dictates of infinite wisdom, whatever aspect they bear, or whatever difficulties they present. Repugnant to reason, they never can be, because they spring from the author of it, but superior to reason, whose limits they will infinitely surpass, we must expect to find them, since they are a communication of such matters of fact respecting the spiritual and eternal world, as need not have been communicated, if the knowledge of them could have been acquired from any other quarter. The facts with which we have become acquainted in the natural world would appear stupendous, were they communicated merely on the evidence of testimony: they fail to astonish us chiefly because they have been arrived at step by step, by means of their analogy to some preceding one. We have climbed the eminence by a slow progression, and our prospect has insensibly widened as we advanced, instead of being transported thither instantaneously by a superior power. Revelation conducts us to the truth at once, without previous training, without any intellectual process preceding, without condescending to afford other proof than what results from the veracity and wisdom of the Creator; and when we consider that this truth respects much sublimer relations and concerns than those which subsist in the material world, that it regards the ways and causes of God respecting man's eternal destiny, is it surprising it should embrace what greatly surpassed our previous " conjectures, and even transcends our perfect comprehension. To a serious and upright mind, however, its discoveries are no sooner made than they become supremely acceptable: the interposition of the Deity in the great moral drama is seen to be absolutely necessary, since none but infinite wisdom, could clear up the intricacies, nor any power short of omnipotence, relieve the distress it produced. These very truths which some ridicule as mysteries, and others despise as dogmas, are to the enlightened" sweeter than honey, or the honeycomb," apart from which, whatever else is contained in the bible, would be perfectly tasteless and insipid. Though he receives every communication from God with devout and grateful emotions, he feels no hesitation in confessing, that it is in these parts of revelation he especially, exults and triumphs; it is these, which in his estimation entitle it to the appellation of "marvellous light." If it is no small gratification, to find so perfect a concurrence in these sentiments, on the part of our author;-to find them stated and illustrated in so able a manner as they are throughout this work, is a still greater. The first letter in this volume is devoted to a general view of the Christian Doctrines, designed to obviate certain prejudices, and to prepare the mind for that serious inquiry into their nature and import, which cannot fail, under the blessing of God, of conducting it to the most satisfactory conclusions.-An accurate conception of his general ideas on this subject may be gathered from the following extract. Christianity, it is true, is distinguishable from all other systems, by the purity, excellency, and extent of the morality it enforces; yet this is not, I conceive, its most prominent characteristic. It no where presents us with a connected scheme of ethics, but it does far better, in advancing the most simple precepts relative to every part of moral duty, and accompanying them with the most powerful incentives to upright and holy conduct. Its grand peculiarity consists in assuming the fact that man is in a fallen state, that he has lost the image of God, that he is himself incapable of recovering the favour of his Creator, and in providing a remedy by which he may be cured of his moral disorder: this remedy being no other than the gift of "the Son of God, who, in relation to mankind, is not so frequently called their pattern, as the Physician of Souls," the great Deliverer or the Saviour of the World.' p. 4. It is of extreme importance,' he elsewhere observes, to have right views of the Christian system, because our eternal safety depends upon it. Among the various sects into which the Christian world is divided, all except one embrace the hypothesis that Christianity is a provision of mercy for an apostate and sinful world, through a divine mediator. To determine whether the majority or the minority, are wrong in this respect, is of the utmost consequence, for they who adopt this hypothesis, and they who reject it, "having different objects of worship," and different grounds of confidence, must be allowed to be of religions essentially different. What then saith the Scriptures, for to them must be our ultimate appeal. P. 6. Our author never loses sight of the gospel as a restorative dispensation: this is its primary and most essential feature, and the most dangerous and numerous aberrations from it, may be traced to the neglect of considering it in this light. It is not the prescription of a rule of life to the innocent, but the annunciation of a stupendous method of relief for the sinner. Overlooking all petty varieties and subordinate distinctions, it places the whole human race on one level, abases them all in the dust before the infinite majesty, and offers indiscriminately a provision of sanctification to the polluted, and of pardon to the guilty. These are the glad tidings; this is the jubilee of the whole earth, proclaimed in the songs of angels, celebrated in the praises of the church, alike in her militant and her triumphant state, whether toiling in the vale of mortality, or rejoicing before the throne. The second letter in the series which composes this volume, is on the Depravity of Human Nature; where the reader will find the evidence of that melancholy, but fundamental truth, exhibited with much conciseness, perspicuity, and force. The third is employed in stating the arguments for the Atonement of Christ under the three divisions of typical, prophetical, historical, and declaratory proofs; and the whole is closed by a very luminous and satisfactory answer to the most specious objections against that momentous truth. In adverting to the objection to a vicarious sacrifice, founded on the notion of its being unjust that the innocent should be appointed to suffer in the room of the guilty, we meet with the following admirable passage of Archbishop Tillotson, remarkable for that perfect good sense, simplicity, and perspicuity, which distinguish the writings of that excellent prelate. If the matter,' says he, were searched to the bottom, all this perverse ⚫ contention about our Saviour's suffering for our benefit, but not in our stead, will signify just nothing. For if Christ died for our benefit, so as some way or other, by virtue of his death and sufferings, to save us from the wrath of God, and to procure our escape from eternal death,—this, for ought I know, is all that any body means by his dying in our stead. For he that dies with an intention to do that benefit for another, or to 'save him from death, doth certainly, to all intents and purposes, die in his • place and stead. And if they will grant this to be their meaning, the ⚫ controversy is at an end; and both sides are agreed in the thing, and do ⚫ only differ in the phrase and manner of expression, which is to seek a ' quarrel and an occasion of difference, when there is no real ground for it: a thing which ought to be very far from reasonable and peaceable minds. For many of the Socinians say, that our Saviour's voluntary death and |