that of any form of Paganism; and especially since the character of modern Paganism, in its influence upon society, has been better developed than formerly, and has thrown greater light upon the true character of the Gentilism of early ages. Mahomedanism would be treated with equal unceremoniousness, and thus leave nothing as a matter of question, except one curious point, into which the author has not entered, viz. Whether some forms of corrupted Christianity are not equally as vitiating in their influence as Paganism itself? Into this question we shall not enter further than to say, that we think it might be made out very satisfactorily, that the worst forms of Christianity are better than any complete system of Paganism that ever existed, considered merely as to their influence upon society. But when we say this, we have no inclination at all to abate those strong feelings of shame and disgust with which every well-instructed Christian must contemplate that greatest of all Christian corruptions which is presented in the history of the Papacy. We think too, that but for those checks which the providence of God has from time to time raised up, the effect of this would have been by this time far more demoralizing in the world, than any thing that ever resulted from Paganism; and that a visit from Papal Europe, to European Turkey, or to the Asiatic seats of idolatry, would have been a transition to a paradise of virtue. There never was any thing in ancient or modern Paganism, or in the impostures of Mahomed, so abstractedly bad, so worthy of "the father of lies," so destructive of all moral principles,-so bewildering to the understanding on all moral questions, so calculated to give to vice the sanction of virtue,-and, in a word, so corrupting to the moral man in the interior springs of his conduct, his judgment, affections, and conscience, as Popery perfected by Jesuitism. But fatally as it operated, and still operates, it did not spread through the mass of the adherents of the Papacy; and it was nobly counteracted by the vital Christianity which was called forth by its efforts to establish a domination of pure unmixed evil. The truth, therefore, which has always existed in Popish countries, has maintained some moral control; and the distinctions between vice and virtue have been there more definitely marked than under any Pagan system; whilst a charity, a mercy, and a purity, have been diffused among great numbers of the more unsophisticated peasantry, unknown in either Pagan or Mahomedan countries. In estimating the moral tendency of Christianity, Dr. Brown however, very properly, takes the system as it is found in its own records, the books of the New Testament; and not as it has been modified or corrupted by human interference: and this leads him to an exhibition of the facts on which Christianity is grounded, and a synoptical view of its principal doctrines: Judaism, Mahomedanism, and Paganism, are treated in the same way, though more briefly ; and thus the leading object of the author is reached. This is not so much to prove the superiority of Christianity, with reference to the conviction of those who may have doubted on the subject; but, having established the superior moral influence of Christianity, and showed what actual moral effects might reasonably have been expected from it, to institute an inquiry into the causes why it has not produced those effects on any large scale; and to discover the most effectual means of restoring to our religion its moral energy and vigour. When," says the author, after having given a sketch of primitive Christianity, 66 "When from this delightful and magnificent spectacle of virtue, we turn to that moral state of Christendom, which has continued during so long a course of ages, what a contrast is exhibited! The primitive Christians seem to have entered into the generous contest of adorning, by their practice, their common faith. Their successors appear, in many instances, to have strained their endeavours to reach the utmost point of departure from its native purity of morals, and to disgrace it by their conduct. The absurdity and perversion of moral opinion, meanness of sentiment, the duplicity the of pretension, the hypocrisy of religious parade, the savage ferocity of real conduct, which are often observable, cast a horrible shade over the Christian profession. It is consequently difficult to determine, whether the excellence of the Gospel, or the corruption of Christians, is the greater object of surprise. "From this view of things arises a question, the solution of which is attended with considerable difficulty. For, if it be admitted, as it certainly must be, that the great end of divine revelation is to improve the morals of mankind, and to lead them through the path of virtue to higher degrees of felicity; the Christian religion must, in this respect, have a peculiar efficacy. Whence, then, proceeds the profligacy of so many of its professors? Whence the corruption so general among them, that, in certain senses, it may be doubted if it was exceeded in the heathen world? If it be replied, that the moral efficacy of Christianity was peculiarly conspicuous in the primitive disciples of Christ, another difficulty, equally great, recurs; How it comes to pass that this result no longer exists to the same extent ? If the early Christians were induced, by their religion, to lead pure and holy lives, why do not all those who still profess the same faith, pursue the same virtuous course? The doctrines, the precepts, the motives, the original institutions, the whole tenor and complexion of that religion still remain the same. Why produces it not the same moral effects? It is of high importance to the interests of Christianity, that some satisfactory answers should be given to these, and to similar inquiries. The enemies of our faith have availed themselves of the deplorable corruption of the Christian world, in order to attack Christianity itself." The investigation of these questions, to which our author seems to attach great importance, is to be left to a future work; to which the present, though in two tolerably sized volumes, is but preparatory; and in this forthcoming production, we are to be told why Christianity has failed to produce results equal to the real excellence of its doctrines and morals; and how we are to act, in order to raise our religion into more active and efficient operation. These are doubtless important subjects; and yet we think them also so exceedingly obvious, that our author sounds longer and louder "notes of prepa ration" in his approaches to them, than is either necessary or useful. The first, when stated in this formal manner, and mooted as a subject for philosophic investigation, seems to imply that there has been some great and mysterious failure in Christianity; and that the credit, if not the authority, of our religion is at stake, until some satisfactory solution can be found, which has not yet been fully discovered. We object altogether to any manner of stating the partial success which Christianity has achieved in our world, which implies a failure, in the ordinary sense in which that term is used. Before this can follow, several principles must be established, not one of which will be found solid or applicable to the case. 1. It must be assumed, that truth in doctrine, and purity in morals, have something of necessary influ ence upon men, to render them wise and moral; and in that case the want of success in Christianity would either argue some original deficiency of truth and purity in it to account for the effect not following uniformly, or else we must be involved in perplexity and mystery. But the fact is, that in a fallen world, truth and holiness meet with opposition and resistance, just in proportion as they they are perfect and unmixed; and any degree of success supposes some power at work in man distinct from any influence which may be assigned to a revelation of abstract truth and duty. 2. It must then be assumed, that this power which Christianity professes to carry with it, in order to its efficiency, operates, not only powerfully, but irresistibly, to change the heart of man to the love of truth, and to the practice of purity. But it is not so professed to operate in the Christian system; and therefore want of success is in fact no failure That influence of the institution. which the Holy Spirit exercises in connexion with the word and ordinances of Christianity, differs in degree, and is subject to no law which is known by us; but its resistibility is always supposed; and the fact of its being resisted is made the ground of the infliction of severer penalties upon the obstinate. There is nothing then in the rejection of Christianity which is not presupposed in the Christian system; and it is as much a part of that system to punish them that believe not, as to save them that believe. 3. Those who argue this supposed failure from the powerful moral tendency of our religion, because that, considering the extent to which it has reached in the world, great evils still exist among Christian nations, assume it as a fact, that Christianity has been taught during all those ages, and among all those nations in which it has been professed. But this is not true. For many centuries, in Christendom, ceremonies displaced preaching; tradition, Holy Scripture; fundamental error, fundamental truth: whilst an organized apparatus of persecution was established to suppress the testimony of truth, or to repel it from the great mass of the population of the Christian world. If Christianity had been really taught, why do we now in this country form ourselves into societies to spread the Scriptures? and why do we lament the utter ignorance of our religion which exists in perhaps nine-tenths of those who profess it? If the efficient remedy has not been applied, it is folly to make it a mystery that the effect has not followed; nor is there anything in the New Testament to lead us to conclude that it was a part of the divine plan, to secure, by special interposition, the full publication of the Gospel in its purity uninterruptedly from its first promulgation: on the contrary, we see that it was a branch of God's permissive providence, to allow these obstructions; and it was predicted that the time would come, when men would not endure sound doctrine." 4. If it is not assumed in the alle gation of a failure on the part of Christianity, that it has been preached as widely as it has been professed; yet it is assumed, that a partial exhibition of the truths and morals of Christianity should be as influential as the manifestation of the perfect 66 system. This is also erroneous. When we are told in the New Testament of "the power" of the Gospel, and of the efficiency of "preaching Christ," the whole of Christianity as an institution for enlightening and saving men is supposed in action; and in this are comprehended, a holy, faithful ministry; the publication of facts, doctrines, and morals, in their connexion; and ordinances, all bearing upon the heart, as the only seat of true religion. Break the system into fragments, and where can be its power? What shall doctrine effect, unless impressed upon the conscience and heart? To what degree shall a perfect ethical system purify, unless it be connected with repentance, justification by faith, and the regeneration of the heart by the Holy Spirit? What shall forms of religion avail, if those great truths are not always kept before the public eye, and rooted in the sensibilities of the public conscience," Neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature ;" "Without holiness no man can see the Lord?" And it will be found that those truths which give vitality to the whole system by their very nature are precisely those truths which have been feast made known, and most carefully excluded from Christendom; whilst in those smaller portions of it, where such truths have been preached and taught, that is, where the perfect system has been perseveringly applied, effects equal to those in primitive times have uniformly followed. 5. It is assumed also, that the plan of Christianity has already come into full operation; or why should any speak of failure? But this is pronouncing on the fate of the battle, before either army has withdrawn from the field, and whilst the contest is warm and even glowing with renewed ardour. Christianity has, in fact, contemplated all that has been called failure. The prophecies of St. Paul, as to the apostasy; the scenic representations of St. John; all show that opposition to truth, corruption of truth, monstrous wickedness, persecutions, and heresies, should arise within the limits of the external church itself; and they join 1 too, in assigning an ultimate and glorious triumph, or, in other words, complete success, to the Gospel of our Saviour. It is idle therefore to talk of failure; for in no age have the principles of true Christianity been in more manful conflict than the present; and in no period since the first, have the boundaries of truth been so rapidly enlarged. The power of Christianity is manifestly unabated, and its arm unbroken; whilst every thing betokens the approach of the final victory. Failure is out of the question, in every view we have taken; and as for the mystery of the case, it is nothing more than the mystery of the divine choice to work out his own plans by that union of his own power with the free agency of man, which is equally applicable to his dispensa tions of Providence as to the dispensations of his religion. We should have preferred a simple inquiry into the causes which have obstructed the success of Christianity in the world, to the method of approaching and stating the subject adopted by our author. He would have come in this way to the same practical lessons, and night have trodden the large field which such an inquiry would have opened, with a firmer step. It would have had the advantage too, of being more historical and less philosophical. We shall, however, look with some interest to the appearance of the work which is to follow the present, and which professes to solve the great moral problem which the author has suggested. it too much to the intellect, and too lit tle to the heart. These defects are,how ever, counterbalanced by many just and important views, well brought out, and sometimes elegantly expressed, The following extracts are from the "The great object chapter entitled, of Christianity is the Moral Renovation of Man, or his Sanctification:" "The great object of the Gospel is the salvation of mankind; and this object it pursues by alleviating their greatest misery, and by promoting their highest happiness. Moral corruption is man's most mortal bane in itself, and draws after it a series of other evils which affect every circumstance of his condition here below. It produces immediately the degradation of his exalted nature, remorse, shame, and dread of the vengeance of an offended Creator. It disqualifies him for acting that distinguished part which was allotted him in the scale of being, and for coutributing his just proportion to the general happiness. It incapacitates him for his true enjoyments, and ob scures his understanding while it hardens his heart. Beside these direct and immediate effects of moral corruption, or sin, it impairs and often destroys the health and vigour of his body; contracts and enfeebles those efforts by which his external condition would be rendered infinitely more comfortable than it really is; and, instead of society's being his principal refuge and security, often converts it into his greatest curse, by the distrust, the contention, the rancour, the malice, the secret ambuscades, or the open hostility which it places around him. The prophet, describing the blessings of the kingdom of Christ, uses this beautiful and energetic JanOf the present work we may say, "A man shall be as an hiding guage: that, though as a part of the author's plan we do not think it very relevant place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a to the object to be attained; it condry place, and as the shadow of a tains many important remarks, and great rock in a weary land." (Isaiah lucid and lively sketches of the xxxii. 2.) All this is reversed by moral prevalent religions which are comcorruption, inherent now in the guilty Man often nature of our species. pared. Though he is of the Scottish rouses round man the merciless Church, we are pleased to see the Calvinism of its confessions substantially tempest, and deprives him of the little shelter he possesses. He often dashes renounced by him, without renouncing evangelical truth. On some points, from his brother's hand even the cup however, he is dim and defective; and of cold water which he was carrying to his lip, to slake the burning thirst in none more so, than that of saving of the fever rioting in his veins. faith, on the elucidation of which he Till this desolating evil be rehas bestowed some labour. He falls moved, or at least alleviated in as great Dinto the error of making saving faith andegree, as is, consistent with our hore passive than active; and assigns present fallen condition, no solid hap piness can be obtained, and no wellgrounded hope of everlasting felicity, which I shall soon show can be nothing else but the highest perfection of all our faculties both intellectual and moral, through all the stages of interminable existence, can be rationally cherished. "Now, if the Gospel removes not entirely all the misery resulting from moral corruption, which man's present state renders impossible, it certainly alleviates it in a wonderful manner, and prepares it for perfect cure. It insures to the sinner pardon and 'reconciliation with God, and ascertains the ground on which these rest. It shows that, by the atonement of Christ, who assumed human nature, both that he might be capable of suffering, and that he might instruct the human race, and set before them a perfect example of universal virtue, a sufficient provision is made for the support of the divine law, and such testimony of the Deity's displeasure with trausgression afforded, as renders it upne cessary to inflict punishment on penitent and amending offenders. Besides, the whole of our Saviour's humiliation manifests the most striking proof of the clemency of the Father, and of the overflowing love of the Son, towards the human race; and is therefore calculated to inspire the most implicit coufidence in God's willingness to receive into favour even the chief of sinners, on his sincere repentance, Hence, every possible assurance is given that there is now no condemuation to them who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.' (Rom. viii 1.) Our Saviour's exaltation, manifested in his resurrection, his ascension, his intercessorial diguity in heaven, and his appointment to be the Judge of all mankind at the final consummation, evinces that he is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.' (Heb. vii. 25.) In this branch of the evangelical economy, there is an astonishing adaptation to the present condition of human nature, and the strongest tendency to produce the most admirable moral results. To me it has always been matter of surprise that the doctrine of the atonement should ever have been so obstinately contested by those, in particular, who pretend to be the most rational Christians." "But the great doctrine of sanctification by the operation of the Holy Spirit, evinces, in the most conspicuous manner, the general and uniform ten dency of Christianity to the moral improvement of human nature here. Not only did sin render man obnoxious to punishment, and deprive him of all claim to the divine favour, and indeed render him incapable of receiving it; it also disabled him for returning to the path of duty, for discharging his incumbent obligations through all their extent, and acquiring those habits which fit him for communion with God, and render him susceptible of those joys which conscious rectitude only can inspire. A remedy for this incapacity was indispensably requisite, and it is provided by the Gospel, The assistance of the Holy Spirit has been promised, and is insured to all sincere Christians. He guides them into all truth;' (John xvi. 13;) and his fruits are love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.' (Gal. v. 22, 23.) These constitute the distinguishing ingredients of the Christian character, and its qualifications for the joys of heaven. Only with such aids could human infirmity attain to these graces; for, without them, the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary, one to the other;' (Gal. v, 17;) so that men in their natural state cannot do the things that they would. That is, the animal and inferior part of our nature is continually opposing the rational and moral principle, and this again is always ineffectually remonstrating against this rebellion, and. groaning under the yoke which it endures. But, as the apostle observes iu the context to the passage just now quoted, if we walk in the Spirit, we shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh,' (Gal. v. 16.) The assurance of this divine aid both emboldens to begin the noblest contest in which a human being can be engaged,-that against his own depraved passions and degenerate ha bits, which degrade his exalted nature, and insures to him the most glorious of victories; a victory, which delivers him from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.' (Rom. viii. 21.) He that ruleth his spirit is better than he that taketh a city. (Prov. xvi. 32.) It is this purifying and exalting energy that has exhibited all the illustrious and magnificent displays of the Christian character during the successive periods of the church, has enabled the followers of Jesus to maintain his cause with combined prudence and fortitude, and fortified them against bonds, torture, and death in its most aggravated forms. It is this which has |