reasonings; the revealed fact, that the bodies of the saints are
to be transformed after the model of that Glorious Body* in
which resides the fulness of the Godhead. More than all the
prerogatives with which the Author's theory invests the future
corporeity, are actually possessed by Him who has "entered into
heaven to appear in the presence of God for us;" yet, the body
in which he ministers as Mediator, must still retain the essential
conditions of the nature he has assumed. We nothing doubt,'
to use the beautiful language of Hooker, but God hath, many
'ways above the reach of our capacities, exalted that body which
'it hath pleased him to make his own, that body wherewith he
' hath saved the world, that body which hath been and is the
'root of eternal life; the instrument wherewith Deity worketh,
'the sacrifice which taketh away sin, the price which hath ran-
'somed souls from death, the leader of the whole army of bodies
'that shall rise again. For though it had a beginning from us,
yet God hath given it vital efficacy, Heaven hath endowed it
with celestial power, that virtue it hath from above, in regard
whereof all the Angels of Heaven adore it. Notwithstanding,
a body still it continueth, a body consubstantial with our
bodies. Here the learned Writer should have stopped; but
he adds a body of the same both nature and measure which
' it had on earth'; whereas it is evident, that a change similar
to that which must pass upon all the sons of immortality at the
last day, has already transfigured that Body of Glory-rò cúμa
Tñs dóns avtoũ-to which these vile bodies, when raised in power,
shall be conformed. "For in Him dwelleth all the fulness of
the Godhead BODILY."

6

+

The present Work will answer a valuable purpose, if it has the effect of carrying forward the devout expectations of the pious with more intentness and fixedness to the Resurrection itself; an event which seems to have been ever present to the minds of the Apostles and primitive Christians, but which, we fear, occupies very little of the thoughts of modern believers. Upon this blessed hope", the consideration to which we have just adverted sheds a ray of celestial brightness. There is, indeed, some danger lest, in retreating from the cheerless dogmas of the Materialist, we fall into the opposite error of a sickly Immaterialism, such as heathen philosophy dreamed of, before "Life and Immortality were brought to light." The present Author combats both these opposite errors, wisely distrusting the conclusiveness of that reasoning which would infer the immortality of the soul from its immaterial nature. Apart from Revelation, the strongest evidence of the future life is not of this metaphysical character, but is to be found in the moral constitu

*Phil. iii. 21.

Eccl. Pol. B. v. § 54.

Col. ii. 9.

tion of our nature,-in that sense of accountableness which infallibly foreshews a day of account,-in faculties, and affections, and moral qualities which imply a destiny far outstretching the present shadowy and transitory term of being. For

What is this moral life? Of conscious power

The brute partakes: he thinks, and feels, and knows.
Say, is it mind or matter which thus shews
Like reason? Yet, in common, with the flower,
Insect, or worm, the enjoyment of his hour
Of being is his all; and death its close.
Not so the life that changes as it grows,
Knowledge of good and ill its fearful dower;
The life of spirit, which is choice and will,
And by its choice self-shaped, becoming what
It loves and seeks,-essential good or ill;
Its character foreshadowing its lot;

A life which foes or tyrants cannot kill,

Which death that slays the body, harmeth not.

Art. II. The whole Question of Final Causes; a Dissertation, in Three Parts, with an Introductory Chapter on the Character of Modern Deism. By W. J. Irons, M.A., of Queen's College, Oxford, and Curate of St. Mary's, Newington. 8vo. pp. viii. 222. London, 1836.

THE HE censurable portions of this Work, and they are many, whether we regard the principles it advocates or the prejudices it betrays, may be fairly traced, we think, to the Author's early impressions, and to the character of the University where he completed his education. His aversion to Calvinism, though matured at Oxford, most probably grew out of the circumstances of his youth. At that period, he was accustomed to hear the most revolting dogmas propounded as essential Christian verities. He was taught to consider the Divine mercy as a powerless attribute, arrested in its descent by an absolute decree which it could not pass; the atonement, that great charter of a world, as the inheritance of a favoured few, as denied to all who could not articulate a certain Shibboleth, and adopt a fanatical creed which neither requires nor is sustained by "the things that accompany_salvation." All others he heard denounced as reprobates, for whom it was not lawful to cherish compassion, nor even to pray. This, and much more of the same kind, Mr. Irons was instructed to regard as Calvinism, and the only genuine Calvinism. Repulsive as such a system must have been to a mind imbued with the spirit of true Christianity, yet, judging from his present views and sentiments, we are compelled to believe that Mr. Irons was

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less shocked by its intense bigotry, than by the coarse illiteracy and vulgar harshness with which it appealed to his auricular nerves and disturbed his sensorium. Calvinism, indeed, in the popular sense of the term, he has abandoned, but for what? For the opposite extreme. But extremes sometimes strangely meet; and of this Mr. Irons has furnished another and a striking exemplification. In getting rid of an exclusive creed, he takes refuge in an exclusive church: renouncing doctrines that confine salvation to the faith which appropriates them, he seeks the bosom of a hierarchy that restricts it within still narrower limits, leaving all other churches, save that of Rome, to the uncovenanted mercy of God. In fact, Mr. Irons has only exchanged one species of ultra-Calvinism for another, the dogmatic for the geographical, the reprobation of a theological, for the reprobation of an ecclesiastical institute.

In the following passage, he affords us a glimpse of the kind of impression which he received from the pseudo-religious teaching of his boyhood.

Without doubt, our holy religion is suited to all the possible exigencies of man; but who shall wonder that it is not more prosperous, while it is associated, by its advocates, with principles that "decay, wax old, and are ready to vanish away?" or delivered in an antiquated style which is conceived to be " Evangelical," because it bears a faint analogy to the stately diction of our Church formularies, or our English translation of the Bible? It is surely possible to clothe the truths of our religion in language as plain and chaste as any other truth will admit of; and why then must they be any longer associated with the barbarous phrases of a barbarous age, -with a quaint theological language, the offspring of perverted taste, and decrepit intellect? Men whose whole theology is contained in one idea, or one small circle of ideas, will perhaps be inclined to denounce a purity of style which they might not be able to imitate; or to retain for themselves those consecrated words and licensed phrases which have so long supplied the place of thought. But, if we would see Christianity maintain that lofty situation which is its right; if we would see the most knowing infidel abashed before its dignity, we must see to it that we are guiltless of encumbering its purity with worn out crudities, and studied vulgarity.' pp. 19, 20.

His Alma Mater received him at the precise moment when his ultra-Calvinism and sectarian intolerance were ready to breathe their spirit through other forms, and to animate with dangerous vitality a system more in conformity with intellectual pride and worldly ambition. We do not wonder, therefore, that he became a staunch Oxonian, maintaining that the Church of England is the only true Apostolical Church; that Romanists and Infidels are not only her natural and inveterate enemies, but that they have laid aside their former differences, and formed a close alliance

for the sole purpose of effecting her destruction. Here he talks 'Utopia. But let him speak for himself. His mood, as the reader will perceive, is exalted by the occasion, and he indulges in the grandiloquent as the style best adapted to the solemnity of his theme. Yes! Roman Catholics and Infidels are instigated by one consentaneous impulse. The Church is in danger. Herod and Pontius Pilate are now friends, for they have one common object on which to wreak their united vengeance; and that is the only bulwark of the Truth, the only citadel where religion finds an asylum,-the Church of England, the Church as by law established. For the demolition of this sacred edifice, men of all religions and of no religion, but especially Romanists and Deists, have struck hands.

'Our Reformed Church now emulates the learning of her early confessors and martyrs, but seems almost fearful of a revival of their enthusiastic zeal for God and truth; and Romanism and Infidelity have taken signal advantage of her error. For with them may now be found the popular eloquence of the press, the pulpit, and the platform! Their wisdom despises not auxiliaries so strong: they have abandoned their ancient hatred to each other; and hoping, at length, to enlist on their side the honest earnestness and powerful prejudices of the populace, they have united their forces, for open war beneath banners inscribed with the outraged name of "Liberal!" The Infidel, as the more powerful of the two allies, dictates the terms of the confederacy; and the Romanist, as the reward of his faithfulness to the common cause, claims to be second ruler in the kingdom of the New Antichrist.

There was a time when less of policy was wont to mark the counsels of the Infidel; there was a time-nor has it long passed by- when the apostles of disbelief, inspired with fiendly madness, foamed forth their rabid blasphemies of the "rights of "devils, to lay waste the peace of earth and defy the majesty of heaven! What marvel was it, that then, all men, as by a common instinct, recoiled from the hideous absurdities of possessed savages-the unnatural enormities of naked demoniac ferocity? But now the Infidel and his new ally have left unused no popular artifice, which fraud could suggest or dishonesty employ. They are conciliatory in their tone, and moderate, though steady and undisguised in their advances. They enter on no sudden crusade against the established opinions of the multitude; but rather engage their worst passions in their favour, by directing all their fierce hostility against, what they insolently call, the "bigotry" of those who are the staunch foes alike of irreligion and superstition, and who are, as yet, the authorized teachers of our people.

'But Romanism can, in this country, and in these times, only advance, under the protection of the ample shield of "liberal" infidelity, and it behoves us to know well this our arch-enemy.

The infidelity of this age assumes a Deistic rather than a sceptical or Atheistic form. If it had been otherwise, it could not have kept terms with Popery. If it had been otherwise, it could never have become extensively popular. It seems to be tacitly admitted that there is a kind of germ of "natural religion," which is the only

essential part of every creed that is found among men; which the philosopher may see and appreciate in them all, while he winks at the peculiar follies which may accompany it. The coarse and infamous maxim, which, at its first announcement long since was repudiated with disgust, now passes current among us-" that a man is no more accountable for his religious belief, than for the colour of his dress." This it is which is now vaunted as "" liberality." Need I bid the Christian to recall, and place side by side with this impiety, (this black stigma upon the veracity of God!) the dread denunciations, on the one hand, or the "hope full of immortality," on the other, wherewith our divine master accompanied his message of salvation to man?

66

-But "liberality" is now "all in all," and honesty passes for nothing! Liberality, which, being interpreted, means nothing less than latitude in religion, and discontent in politics*. There are those, even in what is called (perhaps to distinguish it from the church) the religious world," who cherish this spirit, which wears so fair a name. There are those (and it were needless to define them more plainly) who find a specious common ground" whereon they may meet and associate with the professor, or the despiser, of every creed; who seem to imagine that a "voluntary" surrender of honesty, is to be regarded as the precursor of a smooth millennium now gradually drawing nigh! A prospect, indeed, less like to that which the thoughtful Christian may look for, than to the delusive dreams of the visionary philanthropist ; which yet (alas!) are too often deemed sufficient data for the fantastic schemes of our economic and reforming patriots!

The Christian Church of this realm has, indeed, a powerful enemy to encounter-an enemy, at one time, vindictive and fierce, with menacing brow, and insulting tongue; at another, approaching with gentle smiles and words of courtesy. But our church is not now ignorant of her dangers; and let her not be unmindful of the honour, which, in past times as well as these present, has been conferred upon her; in that she is selected as the "witness for the truth !”—for she will answer it to her God, if she be either awed by terrors, or seduced by treacherous wiles!' pp. 9-12.

It is easy to perceive for what meridian this is intended. But whether an author who so ill disguises the Final Cause' by which he is induced to inflame the bigotry and fanaticism of one party at the expense of the outraged feelings and social rights of another, will succeed in his ambitious views, we much question; the time is gone by. Tory misrule is making its dying struggle in the Church, whose pious dignitaries and underlings watch its convulsive throes with the deepest sympathy. We hope Mr. Irons will live to perform its obsequies.

Mr. Irons, though a little too intemperate for the veteran polemic, appears to be tolerably well versed in the tactics which characterize the school to which he belongs. With this school it is a standing stratagem, to represent their church, or, as Mr. Irons modestly designates it, the Christian Church of this realm,' as

* A fearful charge against at least nine-tenths of the clergy of the present day.