whence cometh moral evil? If any person shall think proper candidly to assign his reasons to the contrary, due regard shall be paid to them." Respecting this singular hypothesis, we have ourselves only to remark, that, if it be admitted, as the believer in the doctrine of predestination to life surely will admit, that the Supreme Being could prevent the consequences of this tendency to moral defection, by predestinating all to life, the introduction of this principle of passive-power in no way whatever removes the difficulty respecting the existence of evil; and that, if the doctrine of eternal punishment be regarded as the doctrine of revelation, (as we suppose these gentlemen do regard it,) it cannot be shown to be consistent with the divine equity on Mr. Hill's definition of that attribute, that the Supreme Being should have brought into existence any creatures who should be left to the consequences of passive-power, viz. to eternal misery. We consider it as a futile attempt to solve a difficulty which presses upon every consistent believer in the existence of a Supreme Being; and which can yield only to sound and extensive principles respecting the laws and operations of the human mind, and to those comprehensive views of the moral administration of God which seem necessarily to result from an accurate acquaintance with those laws aided and guided by the light of revelation. We are fully convinced that neither Dr. W. nor his advocates have found the clue to the right examination of the question; that they have involved themselves in metaphysical subtletics, when they should have set out with an accurate examination of the mental 1 structure; and that they have been led by them to notions as much in opposition to the dictates of revelation as to the deductions of 66 philosophy. "I form the light, and create darkness; I make peace, and create cvil; I the Lord do all these things," are words which, to us, appear subversive of all the doctrines which are modifications of philosophical liberty." Since all the actions of men," says the eminently pious and philosophic Hartley, proceed ultimately from God, the one universal cause, we must, according to this (the philosophical) language, annihilate self, and ascribe all to God. But then, since vice, sin, &c. are only modifications and compositions of natural evil, according to the same language, this will only be to ascribe natural evil to him; and if the balance of natural good be infinite, then even this natural evil will be absorbed and annihilated by it." on We shall close this article by soliciting the attention of the philosophic part of our readers, to the section of the Observations Man, (vol. 11. prop. 15.) from which this extract is made. Hartley clearly shews that the grand difficulties on this abstruse subject, arise from mixing together the popular and the philosophical language; and his remarks on this particular topic, together with the more general principles detailed in prop. 4. and 14-16, furnish in our apprehension a system, which the more it is understood and embraced will the more unravel the perplexities of the enquirer, and gradually bring him to the most satisfactory and consoling conclusions respecting the dealings of Providence. ART. XXXII. Studies; Sacred and Philosophic: adapted to the Temple of Truth. 8vo. pp. 656. WE believe few persons of sound sense, at least of experience in life, wish to see an old friend in a new face; and we strongly suspect, - that a large proportion of those who imbibe, as Christian truth, that class of opinions which it is our anonymous author's intention to disseminate, will be dissatisfied with the fanatic form in which his sentiments are "proposed to common inspection the public." In our official capacity as critics, it is not an object to us whether the opinions of an author accord with our own standard or not; and we hope that we shall always be disposed to view with impartiality all arguments on each side of the controverted questions: but we also hope we shall always be desirous of vindicating our common Christianity from mixtures of bigotry, and of warding off from those whom we consider as its steady friends (whether or not they regard us as such,) the fulminations of zeal without knowledge and charity. The author of this singular work, (which for aught we know may strengthen the faith of those whom he would call faithful, but will certainly convert no one to his opinions,) seems to expect that the Reviewers will have no mercy upon him; and we have seldom met with a volume on which we can pronounce censure in so unhesitating a manner. We see such a spirit of narrow bigotry, such dogmatical assertions on points respecting which the Gospel is either silent or, (as it appears to numbers who as far as man can judge possess the spirit of Christ,) speaks a different language, such a disposition to attribute opposition to his peculiar tenets to unchristian views and feelings, and all this blended with such glaring and vain glorious pedantry, often clothed indeed in a thin veil of self-abasement, that the book does not deserve mercy. We think however that its author deserves justice; and this we shall do him by stating, that he seems to be a man fully impressed with ANN. REV. VOL. VII. the truth and importance of his opinions; that they are unhappily such as prevent him from viewing those who differ from him on some of his leading tenets as in a state of salvation, however much it may be their uniform endeavour to submit their hearts and lives to the requisitions of the Gospel; and that in order to increase the conviction of his friends, to attract the notice of the luke-warm, and to alarm those who appear to him to be in a state of error and perdition, he has presented his sentiments to the public in a form which might have novelty and decision as its characteristic features. We must give a specimen or two of the dogmatism and bigotry which we condemn; and then leave those readers who expect good things from the perusal of these studies, to read as we have done. We hope they will receive as little harm, and more profit than we have derived from our labours. with scorn or even slightingly the doc"Whenever people affect to treat trines of revelation-by which it is st pereminently distinguished-we are confident they are committing an act of impiety, and discover the most culpable ignorance, though they may be charac ters in other respects of liberal education and literary attainments; and may possibly pay some habitual regard to what they deem Religion and Virtue." page 129. "We hear and read a great deal about practical goodness and moral virtue from persons who in this instance can satisfy their consciences in making a very easy surrender of all mental intemind assert that the Christian religion is grity. For will any honest and ingenuous intelligible, without the doctrines of the holy Trinity, the incarnation of Christ, his vicarious atonement, his obedience to the law for us, and the reality of the Spirit's influence on the human soul, are not all these interwoven in the very frame of Christianity ?" page 135. "In the knowledge, belief and imA a provement of the doctrinal facts already counterfeit"the baseless fabrick of a We chearfully admit, however, that all is not thus; but that in several of his pages we can go hand in hand with our author. And we shall conclude this article by quoting one or two of the passages where practical Christianity seems to have divested the author's spe culative principles of some of their obtrusive power, and prompted him to sentiments from which few Christians will dissent, "To detail with any minuteness all the hurtful, and, in some instances, destructive prejudices which arise from an erroneous education, from the company with which we associate, from the fashions and vices of the times, from a vain conceit of our own reason, understanding or learning, from constistutional propensities, and from personal interest, would be an almost endless task. It will be more profitable to enquire whether any suitable remedies have been provided for this disorder of the mind and heart. 66 mended many; I would take leave Ingenious writers have recomto reduce them all to one, and that one adapted to every capacity, and no less so to every state and stage of life. It is, simplicity and godly sincerity. A good and honest heart is of far greater utility and value in this case than all the dialecticks of Aristotle, with the addition of all his commentators. The man who looks up to the "Fathers of Spirits," and says with an unfeigned uprightness of soul, "thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my paths," is much more likely to be cured of every prejudice injurious to his excellence and peace, than if he had written the most celebrated of essays on the human understanding. And why so? Consult 2 Tim. i. 16, 17." page 90. ART. XXXIII. A Brief Apology for Quakerism, inscribed to the Edinburgh Review. 12mo. pp. 49. TOO much of this little tract is employed in defending peculiarities which are neither worthy nor capable of defence. Let the Quakers keep their dialect if they like it; while they think it right, they are right in adhering to it; but it is absurd for them to attempt to prove that there is any thing morally or religiously wrong in the common language of their country. It is remarkable enough that their old ene my the Bugg, should have omitted to notice this when he recited the first commandments of George Fox. These commandments as he calls them, are 1. Thou shalt not pay tythes to the covetous priests, and antichristian impropriators. 2. Thou shalt not be married by or with a priest. 3. Thou shalt not put off thy hat in respect to thy superiors. 4. Thou shalt not shut up thy shop on the world's holy days or fast days, according to the worldly magistrates command. 5. Thou shalt not pay towards the reparation of steeple-houses, nor thy tax towards the trained-bands. For each and all of these injunctions better reasons can be assigned than for their inveteracy against the inoffensive names of months and days. The apologist defends George Fox from the charge of insanity. "It is a fact, then, susceptible of entire demonstration, that the same doctrines, and no other than the same, which were so well defended by Penn and Barclay, were first promulgated by Fox. Our discipline too, in which this writer finds so close a resemblance to that of the kirk of Scotland, though certainly it was modelled, not after the latter, but after the new testament, was the institution of Fox, and long the favourite object of his care and vigilance. If the soundness of any man's mind may be inferred from the wisdom and efficacy of his plans for the moral government of others, Fox, though he had established nothing more than the rule for arbitrating all differences, merits a perpetual memorial in Westminster-Hall, rather than a niche in Bedlam. But he was extravagant, it seems, on many occasions, in his manner of promoting the reformation which he believed himself called to preach. So, in the view of phlegmatic observers, was Luther, and Calvin, and the apostle of Scotland himself. It would be quite as candid to avow, that the reasons of his conduct do not at once appear, and that it is not convenient to bestow much pains in enquiring after them. But our critic suspects, that when Fox dwelt in a hollow tree, in the vale of Beavor, he taught sublime absurdities; and I suspect, that when he himself shall have learned in what liberal criticism consists, he will be sensible of an absurdity, not very sublime, in the employment of such methods to depreciate Fox's character and doctrines. It will be to the purpose to produce here a passage in Fox's journal, which appears to have furnished this innuendo. I fasted much, walked abroad in solitary places many days; hollow trees and lonesome places till and often took my bible, and sat in night came on." Pa. 6, Edit. 1765. Such retirements, for devout private meditation and prayer, were the common practice of the age; the most prominent feature of which was, that zeal and fervour in religion now called enthusiasm. This ought to be as good an apology, in the few cases needing one, for the conduct of the early Quakers, as for that of certain ceremonies has secured the of other reformers, to whom the practice title of Christian, together with a greater share of charitable allowance from the writers of ecclesiastical history. I have, perhaps, said more than enough on this topic: yet not so, if it may contribute at all to the disuse, among the professed followers of a meek and humble Saviour, of a stigma of reproach, which, however ready we may be in the wantonness or bitterness of dispute, to apply it to others, we should feel very keenly if fixed on ourselves." More might have been said than this. Luther had his fits of delirium when he cracked coarse jokes. upon the devil-Calvin betrayed Servetus and then burnt him,-a curse be upon his name for evermore! Knox was the most brutal of the religious revolutionists, and one who sees the handy-work of his disciples at Melrose, may well ask if that be reformation. There is no character in Christian history since the days of its divine founder, more pure from spot or stain than that of George Fox. It is not less absurd to pronounce him insane from his writings, than it would be to pronounce Cromwell a fool from his speeches by their actions they are to be judged. No form of civil polity so unexceptionable in its means and end, so beautiful in all its parts, so perfect as a whole, has ever been imagined in philosophical romance, or proposed in theory, as this man conceived and established, and reduced to practice. What he wrote displays the yeast and fermentation of his mind--its result is to be seen in what he did. And what lawgiver of ancient or of modern times is to be compared with him! SERMONS. ART. XXXIV. Sermons, on several Subjects, by the late Rev. W. PALEY, D. D. Subdean of Lincoln, Prebendary of St. Paul's, and Rector of Bishopwearmouth, 8vo. pp. 543. BY the publication of these sermons the injunctions of the author, most clearly expressed in his will, have undoubtedly been violated; but the violation is amply justified by all the circumstances of the case. The printing and the distributing of a volume of sermons composed by Paley, inevitably lead to publica tion. No precautions whatever could prevent a more extensive gratification of public curiosity than that highly and justly celebrated writer had provided. His own intentions concerning this volume appear in a codicil to his will, as follow: "If my life had been spared, it was my intention to have printed at Sunderland a Volume of Sermons about 500 copies; and I had proceeded so far in the design as to have transcribed several Sermons for that purpose, which are in a parcel by themselves. There is also a parcel from which I intended to transcribe others; but the whole is in an un finished state, the arrangement is not se tled, and there are many things which might be omitted, and others which may be altered or consolidated." The codi cil then goes on to direct, that, after such disposition should have been made respecting the Manuscripts as might be deemed necessary, they should be print ed by the Rev. Mr. Stephenson, at the expence of the testator's executors, and distributed in the neighbourhood, first to those who frequented church, then to farmers' families in the country, then to such as had a person in the family who could read, and were likely to read them; and finally, it is added, "I would not have the said Sermons published for sale." The editor goes on to inform us that, "In compliance with this direction, the following Sermons were selected, printed and distributed by the Rev. Mr. Stephenson, in and about the parish of Bishop Wearmouth, in the year 1806. "These Discourses were not originally.composed for publication, but were written for, and, as appears by the Manuscripts, had been preached at he Parish Churches of which, in different parts of the Author's life, he had the care. It was undoubtedly the Author's intention that they should not have been published; but the circulation of such a number as he had directed by his will to be distributed, rendered it impossible to adhere to the other part of his direction; and it was found necessary to publish them, as the only means of preventing a surreptitious sale.” To attempt to give a character to this work, may by some be considered as altogether superfluous. They who are acquainted with the former writings of Paley (and who is not acquainted with them?) will make themselves sure of finding in this volume exalted views of the divine Being, of his works, and of his government, brought down to the level of ordinary capacities, and applied to the great purpose of promoting rational piety, and active virtue, and also clear, concise, energetic maxims of human duty, adapted to the actual state of mankind, and enforced by the most im |