all-important doctrine, the present volume takes a comprehensive view, of which we must again express regret at our inability to afford any other than a comparatively slight and superficial outline.

The second lecture is devoted to the elucidation of the relation subsisting between God and man; and it contains an admirable exposure of the delusive theory which would evade, by a specious exhibition of the parental character of the Divine Being, his awful and predominant claims as the great moral governor. With equal ability does it confute the notion of those who have passed to the opposite extreme, and who, under pretext of asserting the absolute dominion' of God, identify him with the proprietor of slaves, who entertains for them not even the least regard, but as ' available to subserve his individual interest.' In this view, will is made the substitute of law; sin, the mere neglect or refusal of service; and punishment, the vindictive infliction of a master injured by the effects of disobedience. One part of this dissertation. is singularly effective. Having disposed of the more prominent errors, and shown that the doctrine of substitution is at once the only clew to the just interpretation of Scripture, and the sole satisfactory explanation of the system of Divine administration, Mr. Gilbert brings together, in one strange series of startling propositions, the various devices which have, at one time or another, been offered and accepted in lieu of the clear inculcation of the word of God. Were not this striking display of perverted ingenuity somewhat too extensive for our limited space, we should present it to our readers, as an impressive illustration of the fact, that the imaginations of man's heart are evil within him continually. Well is it said of all such efforts to subvert the truth as it is in Jesus, that,

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Judge as we may of the zeal of these philosophical opponents of that capital article of the common faith of the Christian world-the doctrine of atonement, or their want of zeal in promoting Christianity itself, they certainly cannot be accused of tardiness in pushing strenuously onwards their critical achievements. In subverting the established judgements of mankind on questions the most deeply interesting, or rather in denuding Divine revelation of any important meaning, their progress has been rapid beyond example. Could we conceive of a person totally ignorant of the mysteries of their art, and of the successive steps of demolition taken by it, but yet well acquainted with the Scriptures, to have placed before him the whole result at once; how must he, as he surveyed the lonely fragment left unimpaired, stand amazed at the miracle, incapable of at all conjecturing by what desolating power the sacred structure of his faith and hope could have been laid in ruins.' pp. 58, 59.

It is a usual artifice in polemics, to urge forward allegations against an obnoxious principle, which, when brought to a search

ing test, are found to press, with at least equal force, on opinions held in common by all the parties to the dispute. In nine cases out of ten, these difficulties belong to those preliminary inquiries which, in every question, require to be settled or adjusted to mutual satisfaction, before the main investigation can be advantageously approached. Mr. Gilbert's third lecture refers to certain objections which partake of this character; and in no part of his work does he display more skill as a dialectician, than in that stringent reasoning which fixes on his opponents the inevitable admission of that very principle of vicarious interposition which they would impute as the most pernicious of errors to those who maintain the doctrine of substitution. He demonstrates, that a scheme of moral government which essentially includes the 'suffering of one who was innocent, for the relief and benefit of others who are guilty,'-and thus much is admitted by all who even affect to recognize Christian truth,-must be founded on that very principle which is so fiercely opposed. The innocence, the perfect virtue of the Sufferer is admitted: it is conceded by the most determined adversary, that the infliction was not due to him as penalty, nor required by him as discipline. Whatever it might be, therefore, having no causal relation to himself, it must have been entirely vicarious. The whole benefit of it terminated, and was designed to terminate, elsewhere. In some way, it was altogether for the good of others. .... Under such circumstances, vicariousness of some kind is ' either admitted by all, or, if denied in words, denied against the plainest nature of things.'

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In the following section, this subject is again taken up, in connexion with the nature and ground of moral government in general. The mere fact, that there does exist difficulty or discrepancy in our apprehensions of an undeniable element of the Divine administration, is a sufficient evidence of obscurity in our ordinary notions of justice. And this inference is sustained and corroborated by the strangely perverted feeling which has endeavoured to fix on the doctrine of vicarious suffering, the imputation that it charges the Divine Being with implacability:-'most unintelligently,' observes Mr. Gilbert, since that doctrine, from its very nature, is essentially incompatible with such a thought."

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The only inference therefore is, that, admitting the fact of atonement, that fact must exclusively stand connected with official character, with that of conservator of law administered for the public good. Only in the relation which he bears to the intelligent creation, as the supreme moral governor, as presiding over general law, is it that the Divine Father either requires or can accept of substituted suffering.'

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It is clear that in the very method by which he proposes to abolish the sin of the world, he must reveal his fixed, his unalterable aversion

from it. This done, and moral administration rests securely on its basis. The judgements of God will be evinced to be according to moral, as well as to intellectual truth; and mercy, unobstructed, may go forth with royal munificence to dispense her blessings. But this unaccomplished, and God himself must seem to have changed his judgements; at least, no longer to testify that he is holy, but, with respect to the saved, to obliterate every record of the most glorious of his attributes. p. 167.

The fifth lecture, entitled 'Special principles involved in Mo'ral Administration,' contains high matter, and we could almost wish that this part of the Work had come singly under our notice, or that we had, at the outset, fairly limited ourselves to the systematic consideration of this single section, so important are the views suggested, and so ably are they sustained. We feel, in fact, some slight disposition for a friendly wrangle, a set-to with the gloves, on one or two of the matters affirmed in this dissertation. Our objections, we suspect, might prove little more than verbal; but, in matters of this kind, words and phrases are sometimes of great importance; and Mr. Gilbert is not a man to use either without a distinct and deliberate purpose. Repressing, then, this little pugnacious tendency, and reassuming our pacific attitude, we pass on to the succeeding exhibition of the Func'tion and bearings of Substitution. Since moral government cannot exist without moral agents on whom to exercise its influence, there can be no plea for ascribing a despotic character to the Divine Administration. It is founded at once on the appeal to motives and on the sanctions of law: the first involving a ' voluntary, deliberative conformity to moral order,' an heartfelt approval of God's 'unchanging estimate of virtue'; the second enforcing rectitude, 'not as the object of moral emotion, but as the means of happiness merely, in consequence of its coincidence ' with that constituted order, the violation of which brings suffering.'

From the nature then of any kind of government, of its laws and penal sanctions, it seems sufficiently obvious, that it must at all times be adapted to produce and support moral judgements and moral principles in creatures; to ensure a rational allegiance, and also to counterpoise temptation, either from within or from without, to such infraction of its rules as would expose to loss and suffering.

Such laws continuing in direct force, the execution of their sentence is the provision which they afford for these objects; but when a scheme of government is introduced which supersedes that execution, and frees the guilty from the punishment denounced, some other provision, commensurate in moral efficacy with the personal suffering of the transgressors themselves, must of necessity be brought to bear upon the mind. pp. 220, 221.

'charged in its diversified relations by substitution;' and we must again refer to Mr. Gilbert's own expressive language for the next step in his inferences.

'A consideration of the precise nature of atonement thus deduced, will enable us now to answer a question, not infrequently suggested, of no small interest to the reflecting Christian. That question is, What is the special bearing of atonement? Does it work any change in the Divine mind; or, is its effect confined to other minds-the minds of creatures?

The special end of it, as just stated, is, by attesting the judgement of God on the nature of sin, to supply the place of direct penal sanctions; thus maintaining a due respect for law, and securing against the temptation to incur suffering. The proper reply, therefore, must be, that its bearing is the same as that of penal sanctions; not on the Divine mind, but on the minds of creatures. The results of atonement, and its operation in producing those results, are all restricted to the benefit of those who are the subjects of the Divine government, while it effects no change at all on the mind of the Governor. God is immutable in his nature, his counsels, his purposes, his grace, and his goodness; nor is atonement the cause, in any sense, but the fruit of his mercy. It was by it that this most glorious attribute, without injury to any, and in perfect consistency with the dignity of holiness, opened for itself a free and ample passage to relieve the miseries of offending creatures.

The statements of Scripture are in entire harmony with this representation. Grace to man is no where said to have originated in the bosom of the Son, and by his humiliation and death to have been purchased of the Father; but the contrary representation is very explicit. It was the Father who so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son; while the work of the Son was not less a demonstration of the Father's pity and goodness than of his own. We are not, be it particularly remarked, redeemed from God, but to God, by the death of Christ. He died the just for the unjust; for what end? that he might deliver us from the Father? Abhorred be the thought! It was that he might bring us to the Father.' - pp. 221-223.

We regret that we cannot follow up this with the entire concluding portion of the lecture, where, in a series of paragraphs admirable both in discrimination and in expression, the Writer cites the examples of illustrious men-the legislator who, to preserve the integrity of his law, shared the penal mutilation with his son-the hero who, for his brother's life, pleaded his own maimed and wounded frame-in illustration of the great legal principles of atonement and substitution. Elucidations of this kind are awkward things in clumsy hands, but exceedingly valuable when discreetly managed; and the passages before us are full of instruction. The following stage of the general inquiry relates to the qualities essential in a valid substitution;' and the Author,

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after clearing away some of the erroneous views which are too frequently taken of this important point, finally resolves it into the following series of requisitions, as sufficient, in their combination, to constitute an ample indemnification of authority.

So complex was the work of man's salvation, that, according to the view just taken, we find it to include:

That the substitution be approved by the supreme executive authority:

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That it be of such a nature as effectually to preclude even the shadow of imputation on the exercise of that authority:

That the offering be of such singular worth and rarity, that no probable repetition of it can be anticipated:

That between the substitute, and those for whom his sufferings become available, there must exist an identity of nature:

That such substitute possess the perfection of virtue, as estimated by the Divine administration under which he interposes:

That no degree of constraint compel him to the undertaking: That salutary mental associations, the basis of moral administration, be not enfeebled:

'That the sufferer possess an undisputed right to stake his life in his benevolent enterprise:

That he sustain no irreparable injury:

That he be able to indemnify public order from every pernicious result which might be otherwise apprehended:

That he fully justify the law from whose penalties he effects release:

And, finally, that his work be of such conspicuous merit as, in moral effect, more than to counterbalance what might be impaired by the lenity of which he becomes the honoured administrator.'

pp. 296, 297.

One of the most valuable portions of the volume, is to be found in this lecture. Among the various errors with which men are accustomed to disfigure or to neutralize the great Scripture doctrine of sacrifice, we suspect that there is none more common than the notion, that the value of the offering is arbitrary and not intrinsic;-that any offering whatsoever would derive a sufficient validity from mere appointment.' Names of high repute for orthodoxy and learning are connected with this strange, unscriptural, and irrational suggestion. To say nothing of the obvious consideration, that it is the distinctive character of Divine intervention, rather to effect mighty results by apparently trivial means, than to employ magnificent machinery for the accomplishment of that which might be wrought out by a more common display of almighty power; it is quite enough to reply, with Mr. Gilbert, that, on this hypothesis, there exists no reason why there should have been required any medium at all. The whole matter resolves itself into mere will. Every thing that is essen