regaining the happiness he has forfeited; that the pardon of sin, or some compensation to divine justice for the injury he has done to the majesty of the supreme Lawgiver, are the objects which ought, in the first place, to occupy his attention. An acquaintance with the rules of duty may be sufficient to teach an imrocent creature how to secure the felicity. he possesses, but can afford no relief to a guilty con science, nor instruct the sinner how to recover the happiness

he has lost. Let it be rememon at Christianity is es

sentially a restorative dispensation; it bears a continual respect to a state from which man is fallen, and is a provisions for repairing that ruin which the introduction of moral evil has brought upon him. Exposed to the displeasure of God and the curse of his law, he stands in need of a Redeemer; disordered in his powers, and criminally averse to his duty, he equally needs a Sanctifier. As adapted to such a situa tion, much of the New Testament is employed in displaying the character and unfolding the offices of both, with a view of engaging him to embrace that scheme of mercy, which the divine benignity has thought fit to exhibit in the gospel. The intention of St. John, in composing the evangelical history, coincides with the entire purpose and scope of revelation: These things are written,' said he, that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, and that, believing, ye might have life through his name? Whoever considers that, upon every hypothesis except the Socinian, Christianity is a provision of mercy for an apostate and sinful world, through a divine Mediator, will acknowledge that something more is included in the idea of preaching the gospel, than the inculcation of moral duties; and that he, who confines his attention to these, exchanges the character of a Christian pastor for that of a fashionable declaimer or a philosophical moralist. If we turn our eyes to the ministry of the apostles, we perceive it to have consisted in testifying repentance toward God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ;' repentance, which is natural religion modified by the circumstances of a fallen creature, including a return to the path of days and faith, which is a practical compliance with the Christian di pensa tion, by receiving the Saviour as the way, the truth, and the life. Faith and repentance being the primary duties enjoined under the gospel, and the production of these the professed end of the inspired writers, we need not wonder that those, who are ambitious to tread in their steps, insist much, in the course of their ministry, on the topics which supply the principal motives to these duties;-the evil of sin, the extent of human corruption, together with the dignity, power, and grace of the Redeemer. Remembering that the object of repentance is God, they do not, in treating VOL. V.

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of sin, satisfy themselves with displaying its mischievous ef fects in society: they expatiate on its contrariety to the divine nature; they speak of it chiefly as an affront offered to the authority of the Supreme Ruler; and represent no repentance as genuine, which springs not from godly sorrow, or a concern for having displeased God. In this part of their office, they make use of the moral law, which requires the devotion of the whole heart and unfailing obedience, as the sword of the spirit, to' pierce the conscience, and to convince men that by the deeds of it no flesh living can be justified, but that every mouth must be stopped, and the whole world become guilty before God. The uniform course of experience serves to convince them, that, till a deep impression of this truth be made on the heart, the character of the Saviour, and the promise of pardon through his blood, will produce no gratitude, and excite no interest. In inculcating faith in Christ, they cannot satisfy themselves with merely exhibiting the evidences of Christianity; a mere assent to which upon-historical grounds undeniably fails, in innumerable instances, of producing those effects which are uniformly ascribed to that principle in the New Testament,-neither overcoming the world, nor purifying the heart, nor inducing newness of life. They are of opinion, that the external evidences of the Christian religion are chiefly of importance, on account of their tendency to fix the attention on Christ, the principal object exhibited in that dispensation; and the faith on which the Scriptures lay so much stress, and connect with such inedable benefits, they conceive essentially to involve a personal reliance on Christ for salvation, accompanied with a cordial submission to his authority. Attempting to produce this scriptural faith, in a dependence upon the divine blessing (without which the best means will be unsuccessful), they dwell much on the diguity of his character as the Son of God, the admirable constitution of his person as Immanuel, God with us, the efficacy of his atonement and the gracious tenor of his invitations, together with the agency of that Spirit which is intrusted to him as the Mediator, to be imparted to the members of his mystical body. In their view, to preach the gospel is to preach Christ; they perceive the New Testament to be full of him, and while they imbibe that spirit with which it is replete, they feel a sacred ambition to diffuse the savour of his name in every place'.

Let it not be inferred from hence, that they are inattentive to the interests of practical religion, or that their ministry is merely occupied in explaining and enforcing a doctrinal system, None lay more stress on the duties of a holy life, or urge with more constancy the necessity of their hearers, shewing their faith by their works; and they are incessantly affirming, with St. James, that the former without the latter is

dead, being alone. Though in common with the inspired writers they ascribe their transition, from a state of deathe to a state of justification, solely to faith in Christ previous to good works actually performed, yet they equally insist upou a performance of those works as the evidence of justifying faith; and, supposing life to be spared, as the indispensable condition of final happiness. The law, not altered in its re quirements, (for what was once duty they conceive to be duty still)-but attempered in its sanctions to the circumstances of a fallen creature, they exhibit, as the perpetual standard of rectitude, as the sceptre of majesty by which the Saviour rules his disciples. They conceive it to demand the same things, though not with the same rigour, under the gospel dispensation as before: the matter of duty they look upon as unalterable, and the only difference to be this, that whereas under the covenant of works the condition of life was sinless obedience, under the new covenant an obedience sincere and affectionate, though imperfect, is accepted for the sake of the Redeemer. At the same time, they do not cease to maintain, that the faith which they hold to be justi fying comprehends in it the seminal principle of every virtue, and that a Chris

that if genuine it will not fail to be f

tian hath it in his power to shew his faith by his works,' and by no other means. Under a full conviction of the fallen state of man, together with his moral incapacity to do what is pleasing to God, they copiously insist on the agency of the Spirit, and affectionately urge their hearers to implore his gracious assistance. From no class of men will you hear more solemn warnings against sin, more earnest calls to repentance or more full and distinct delineations of the duties resulting from every relation in life, accompanied with a pe culiar advantage of drawing, from the mysteries of the gos pel, the strongest motives to strengthen the abhorrence of the one, and enforce the practice of the other. In their hands, morality loses nothing but the pagan air with which it is too often invested: the morality which they enjoin is qf heavenly origin, the pure emanation of truth and love, sprinkled with atoning blood, and baptized into an element of Christian sanctity. That they are That they are not indifferent to the interests of virtue is sufficiently apparent, from the warm approbation they uniformly express of the excellent work of Mr. Wilberforce, which is not more conspicuous for the orthodoxy of its tenets, than for the purity and energy of its moral instruction. If we look at the effects produced from the ministry of these men, they are such as might be ex pected to result from a faithful exhibition of the truth of God. Wherever they labour, careless sinners are awakened,

profligate transgressors are reclaimed, the mere form of religion is succeeded by the power, and fruits of genuine piety appear in the holy and exemplary lives of their adherents. A visible reformation in society at large, and in many instances unequivocal proofs of solid conversion, attest the purity of their doctrines, and the utility of their labours; effects, which we challenge their enemies to produce where a different sort of teaching prevails.

-The controversy between them and their opponents, to say the truth, turns on a point of the greatest magnitude: the question at issue respects the choice of a supreme end, and whether we will take the Lord to be our God.' Their opponents are for confining religion to an acknowledgement of the being of a God, and the truth of the Christian reve lation, accompanied with some external rites of devotion, while the world is allowed the exclusive dominion of the heart: they are for carrying into effect the apostolic com mission, by summoning men to repentance, and engaging them to an entire surrender of themselves to the service of God through a Mediator. In the system of human life, their opponents assign to devotion a very narrow and limited agency: they contend for its having the supreme controul. The former expect nothing from religion, but the restraint of outward enormities by the fear of future punishment; in the views of the latter, it is productive of positive excellence, a perennial spring of peace, purity, and joy. In stead of regarding it as a matter of occasional reference, they consider it as a principle of constant operation. While their opponents always overlook and frequently deny the specific difference between the church and the world; in their views the Christian is a pilgrim and stranger in the earth, one whose heart is in heaven, and who is supremely engaged in the pursuit of eternal realities. Their fiercest opposers, it is true, give to Jesus Christ the title of the Saviour of the world; but it requires very little attention tó perceive, that their hope of future happiness is placed on the supposed preponderancy of the virtues over the vices, and the claims which they thence conceive to result on the justice of God: while the opposite party consider themselves as mere pensioners on mercy, flee for refuge to the cross, and ascribe their hopes of salvation entirely to the grace of the Redeemer.

То

For our parts, supposing the being and perfections of God once ascertained, we can conceive of no point at which we can be invited to stop, short of that serious piety, and has bitual devotion which the evangelical clergy enforce. To live without religion, to be devoid of habitual devotion, is natural and necessary in him who disbelieves the existence of its object; but upon what principles he can justify his con

duct, who professes to believe in a Deity, without aiming to please him in all things, without placing his happiness in his favour, we are utterly at a loss to comprehend.

We cannot dismiss this part of the subject, without remarking the exemplary moderation of this class of the clergy on those intricate points which unhappily divide, the Christian church; the questions, we mean, that relate, to predestination and free will, on which, equally remote from Pelagian heresy and Antinomian licentiousness, they freely tolerate and indulge a diversity of opinion, embracing Calvinists and Arminians with little distinction, provided the Calvinism of the former be practical and moderate, and the Arminianism of the latter evangelical and devout. The greater part of them lean, we believe, to the doctrine of general redemption, and love to represent the gospel as bearing a friendly aspect toward the eternal happiness of all to whom it is addressed: but they are much less anxious to establish a polemical accuracy, than to win souls to Christ.'

The opposition they encounter from various quarters, will not surprise those who reflect, that they are not of the world, that the world loves only its own, and naturally feels a dislike to such as testify that its works are evil. The Christianity of the greater part of the community is merely nominal; and it necessarily follows, that, wherever the truths of religion are faithfully exhibited and practically exempli fied, they will be sure to meet with the same friends and the same enemies as at their first promulgation; they will be still exposed to assault from the prejudices of unrenewed minds, they will be upheld by the same almighty power, and will continue to insinuate themselves into the hearts of the simple and sincere with

We hope our reader the same irresistible force.

will excuse the length to which we have extended our delineation of the principles of the clergy styled evangelical', reflecting how grossly they have been misrepresented, and that, until the subject is placed fairly and fully in view, it is impossible to form an equitable judgement of the treatment they have met with from the writer under consideration. An examination of the charges he has. adduced must be reserved to a future number, and will con plete our review of his work.

Art. V. Memoirs of the Philadelphia Society for promoting Agriculture, containing Communications on various Subjects in Husbandry and Rural Affairs. To which is added, sa Statistical Account of the Schuylkill permanent Bridge. Vol. 1. 8vo. pp. 453. Phila delphia, 1808.

inil

IF, in reviewing the miscellaneous volumes of Communications, which appear from time to time in this country