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will make it appear, that their hopes respecting that state were de signed, according to the purpose of revelation, to centre in the same point with our own : our faith being established on a past event, theirs on a future prospect, but both of them meeting in the person of a Redeemer: the structure of the revealed word being so framed, that the promise of a Messiah should be understood to comprise within it the promise of everlasting life; and that the hope of everlasting life might be afforded, only in connection with faith in him, who, in the fulness of time, was to purchase it for mankind. Search the Scriptures, says our Lord, 'for in them ye think ye have ETERNAL LIFE: and they are they which testify OF ME.' P. 174.

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The Fifth Chapter is occupied by the consideration of Sacrifice, as a "particular provision by which the belief in a future state was guarded from affording countenance to opinions inconsistent with true religion. This again is subdivided into sections on its origin; its meaning; and its use and importance considered as a subordinate and temporary provision belonging to the general plan of revealed religion. The greater part of the first of these is occupied in combating the opinions of Spencer, and having, by an examination which we think must carry conviction to most minds, established its divine origin, our author passes over the opinions of Sykes and others, as falling to the ground by necessary consequence. The strange hypothesis of the learned historian of Greece, in our own times, has sufficiently shewn us how weak and dangerous a guide the imagination is in matters of this nature.

It is almost needless to say, that throughout his work Mr. Lancaster has made great use of the admirable work on Atonement and Sacrifices by Archbishop Magee. With regard to the import of sacrifice, Mr. L. justly remarks, that the difficulty here consists in the selection rather than the discovery of arguments. His conclusion is this:

"The guilt of the worshipper is emblematically imputed to the victim: to the victim also is emblematically transferred the punishment which had been incurred: hence there results that atonement, which, by virtue of the Divine appointment, renders the sinner capable of pardon. And (on the leading principles of interpretation thus furnished to us) we contend that these discriminating properties belong to every species of sacrifice prescribed in the ritual of Moses: understanding the term sacrifice in that restricted sense which we have before assigned to it. All such sacrifices are both expiatory and vicarious." P. 223.

The next consideration is, that of the character of Sacrifice, with regard to its earliest observance and universal prevalence after the flood: and this is followed by a similar enquiry as to the import of sacrifice in the antediluvian world; from which the

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same conclusions are drawn as in the first instance. the end of this section we have Mr. Lancaster's summing up of this part of his argument in these words.

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"It remains for us to state with brevity the application of the principles deduced from the foregoing reasonings, to the general purpose we have in view.

That the Divine dispensations with regard to fallen man have, through every period of time, been conducted on a plan of harmony with the Christian scheme of redemption: that the hopes of a future life which God has, in various successive ages, afforded to the world, have uniformly been grounded on a basis congenial to the gospel of Christ that his sacred ordinances have been invariably designed to separate such hopes from every self-righteous plea on the part of his worshippers; and to infuse into those who cherished them, a renunciation of merit and a conviction of personal guilt: these are the principles which we have chiefly endeavoured to establish. Towards the attainment of these ends the sacrificial ordinance was manifestly subservient. For, had the belief of a future state been left unguarded by any corrective, we can hardly doubt that it would have been grossly perverted by human pride. Thus would man, polluted by nature, and guilty by actual transgression, in presenting himself before his Maker as a candidate for immortal happiness, have claimed the joys of heaven as a debt owing to him from the justice of God. But these towering pretensions, so hostile to the doctrine of the cross, must sink into dust, when that worshipper of God beholds, in a mode of adoration prescribed by God himself, a representation of that blood which was to be poured out for the expiation of his sins. Man, when he worshipped his Creator through the medium of sacrifice, must have felt, if he worshipped him aright, that he had no foundation of merit on which to rest his pretensions; that he was in himself the proper object of displeasure, not of favour; and that he ought therefore to come unto God, not as a claimant of justice, but as a delinquent and a suppliant for mercy. Sacrifice was both designed and adapted to teach him this lesson. The feelings thus excited would harmonize with that scheme of redemption which was hereafter to be disclosed. They would qualify men to receive, according to the gracious purpose of God, the destined benefit which was to be obtained by the atonement of a Redeemer. The same feelings would prepare and dispose mankind to embrace the faith of that Redeemer, when it should be proposed to them." P. 242.

The Sixth Chapter is, in many respects, one of the most interesting in the volume, consisting of an examination of Scriptural authorities in support of the foregoing view of the subject; and it is only the length of our previous extracts which prevents our giving a specimen of the forcible strain of reasoning brought against the fallacious representations of the author of the Divine Legation.

The next Chapter (which is the last properly relating to the immediate subject of inquiry,) further elucidates Mr. Lancaster's views, by considering the omission of explicit declarations, in the Mosaic economy, as to the doctrines of prayer and the sanctification of the Holy Spirit. Although our quotations have already been so greatly extended we cannot refrain from giving the concluding paragraph,

"We will conclude our view of this subject with the following remark. It will not be denied, that, agreeably to the concurrent descriptions of both prophets and evangelists, the coming of the Messiah was to be accompanied by an abundant and illustrious manifestation of the glory of God. The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together *.' This is the language of Isaiah, when predicting that event. 'I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts. The glory of this latter house shall be greater than that of the former t.' These are the words of a later prophet, with regard to the second temple: which, though in the visible splendor and magnificence of its structure inferior to the former, was to be honoured by the personal presence of God manifested in the flesh. 'Glory to God in the highest,' was a part of the song of the heavenly choir who proclaimed the advent of the Redeemer. We would ask, then, in what was this glory to consist? It was not to be seen in the display of worldly greatness and majesty, in the trophies of earthly warfare or the ensigns of temporal dominion. Doubtless we can understand by it nothing else than the glory of God reconciling the world to himself by the death of his Son, and dispensing his mercies to a fallen race, through the means of that precious expiation. Of these mercies, eternal life is the end and the completion: the promise annexed to prayer, and that of the sanctifying Spirit, are instrumentally necessary, in order to the attainment of that blessed consummation. All these blessings belong strictly and exclusively to the evangelical covenant. Here they are covenanted mercies. But they could not, consistently with the truth of the Christian scheme, belong to any other covenant. Had they been attached to any foregoing dispensation, how could the glory of God have been eminently manifested in the Gospel? How could the prophetic declarations on this subject have been verified? Standing as they do, connected with the person and the dignity of the Lamb of God, they shew forth the holy attributes of the Deity in a blaze of glory almost too bright for the mental eye to endure. Suppose the contrary had been the case: would not the carnal mind then exult with insolence, if, when called upon to shew the manifestation of God's glory in the person of Christ, we had nothing further to allege, than the outward circumstances of abject. humiliation which were attendant upon the man of sorrows, together with the bloody and ignominious cross, which was a stumbling block Haggai ii. 7.

* Isaiah xl. 5.

to the Jews, and to the Greeks foolishness? How is the case altered, when we are able to point to that cross as a fountain opened to a polluted world for sin and uncleanness; and to the blood which pours down it, as the means provided by God of conveying his most inestimable mercies to mankind, in the acceptance of their prayers, the sanctification of their souls, and the free gift of eternal life? Surely, in this view, Christ crucified may justly be regarded as the power of God, and the wisdom of God, to them that believe: but this could never have been so manifest, if the promises of which we are speaking had existed in connexion with any former covenant or dispensation." P. 316.

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In the remainder of the work we find "the Harmony of Divine Revelation insisted on as an evidence of its truth;' examination into the alleged want of antiquity and universality in the scheme of revelation;-and a valuable Appendix of sup plementary remarks, containing some very important confirmations of the positions advanced in the preceding part of the volume; these are taken from Maimonides and other writers of high authority.

The Office and Mission of St. John the Baptist. An Essay, which obtained the Norrisian Medal for the year 1823, in the University of Cambridge. By JAMES AMIRAUX JEREMIE, Scholar of Trinity College, 8vo. pp. 92. 3s. London. Rivingtons.

THE dry and abstract form in which common writers usually propose the alternative of fanaticism or imposture, as the only modes of evading the testimony of the promulgators of Chris tianity, has perhaps in some degree weakened the force of the argument in the minds even of candid enquirers. From fear, apparently, of fatiguing the attention by too detailed an exami nation, the appeal has been made to a few general principles, without adverting to the minuter peculiarities of the case; and the absence of any apparent motive, whether wealth or power or fame, combined with the probable termination of the enterprise, has been considered as at once affording a sufficient vindication. It is, however, in the mode adopted for removing the charge of imposture that the defect seems principally to consist. Much indeed yet remains by which the absence even of enthusiasm might be illustrated and confirmed: the wish expressed by Less * that "some friend to Christianity would

Authenticity and Credibility of the New Test. p. 291. Kingdon's Transl.

devote his attention to the speeches of St. Paul in the Acts, and unfold the connection, solidity, confidence, sublimity, and integrity so prominent in them," is as yet unaccomplished, and though Benson excellently developed some traits most opposite to the character of a fanatic, which occur in the letter to Philemon, and other points have been subsequently illustrated by Graves*, there are yet ample and more varied materials in many of St. Paul's + other letters, by which this important outwork might be strengthened and enlarged. Still the defect alluded to, the absence of sufficient illustration from the details of Scripture history, exists in a much less degree in the alternative of the fanaticism of the apostles; since in fact this question must nécessarily be determined not by abstract argument, but by the characters as discoverable from the written records it would at all events have been of less importance, since the single circumstance of the non-production of our Saviour's body after his burial, is at once ‡ decisive against any hypothesis of mere enthusiasm. In the question of imposture, on the con trary, the defence has been generally confined to less direct proof. The great argument indeed of Paley's Evidences has established, that if the original witnesses of the Christian mira+ cles were impostors, at least no second instance of such an imposture can be found in the annals of mankind. Still, however, some minds require a further proof. Though the case be found to stand alone, though it clearly appear that none of the ordi motives can have influenced the founder or the propaganary tors of Christianity, an involuntary suspicion may yet remain, that some other sufficient motive may still lurk unobserved, or that in the caprice of human nature they acted without any definite motive at all. It seems, then, desirable to adopt, in ad dition, some mode of proof, which should not merely assign abstract reasons, why the authors of our religion should not have been impostors; but shew that the very idea of imposture is negatived by the circumstances of the case. For this purpose nothing more seems requisite than a patient and accurate investigation of the actions ascribed to them, with a view

Essay on the Character of the Apostles and Evangelists.

Every portion of the 1st Epistle to the Corinthians will be found serviceable for this purpose. It may suffice to instance the author's reprobation of party-spirit even in his own favour, i. 12-16. ii. 4, 5.; his readiness to enter into every practical question submitted to him, however apparently minute; the tenderness manifested for the consciences of the over-scrupulous, and the value set on the lowest and humblest Christian; his preference of the more useful to the more splendid gifts, and of charity over all, and his consciousness of the strong and continued efforts necessary to prevent his forfeiting the Divine favour.

Paley's Evidences. Part ii. c. 8. On the History of the Resurrection.

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