sen even much fuller, and to have un- tion, and of keeping it ever in view, is, that it all its bearings and exemplifications. redeems writings and facts belonging to the first class from that suspicion which may at■ust not pass over this part of the vohout an extract; and the one we shall tach to them, merely from their intermixture with those of the second class, and of the third. recommend itself by its usefulness. one knows how differently he feels "It has, in fact, often been attempted to mined to form an opinion and give a de-gle and confound these three classes of writon a subject that falls within the range ings and of facts; and the attempt has been mon knowledge, or upon one relative made by persons of very opposite intentions. he has no previous experience. In For example: Men of weak judgments, and of case, though the facts may be intel- a dogmatical and overweening temper, have nd the evidence ample and conclusive, not seldom prided themselves upon taking as he knows not how to resist, yet, under their protection certain works, or certain imself on strange ground, and his con- points of history, generally rejected as spurious wanting the corroboration of experi- or false by men of sound sense; and if they can hardly dismiss a lurking distrust, could not assert for such books or facts an inhis senses and clearest perceptions. contestable claim to respect, have, at least, enze is ever the mother of fear. But one deavoured to foist them within the pale of prolarge experience among facts of the bability; thus confounding the third class with ss, who has had repeated opportunities the second; or sometimes they have laboured ing or correcting his past decisions to claim a place in the first class, for what ber cases, and of ascertaining the sound- longs only to the second. Such persons seem he principles by which his judgment to be influenced by the feelings of the pleader, whose zeal as an advocate increases in proporguided; and who is familiarly acwith the various exceptions, or seem- tion to the demerit of his client. eptions, to which those principles are gives, with a prompt confidence, its due to every separate portion of the eviefore him. The facts, though new in tance and form, are old in substance. gnises at first sight each by its proper ion; is not imposed upon by specious ; nor does he, from a false caution, exspicions from things doubtful to things "On the other hand, intellectual timidity or a sinister intention has induced some critics to act the part of the calumniator, whose practice it is to propagate the infection of slander by flinging the skirt of the guilty over the shoulders of the innocent. Because a work unquestionably genuine has by some accidental connexion become associated with others palpably spurious, therefore it is to be loaded with groundless imputations; and, without even a v, although those general principles that pretext for suspicion to fix upon, is to be uced from an extensive acquaintance amerced in its just claims upon our confidence. cient literature and history, will not On this system of detraction, ancient books set every question at rest, or to make which stand by full right in the first class are equally certain; they serve invariably thrust down to the second; while such as may allibly to distinguish the certain from fairly pretend to a place in the second, are btful, or to draw a broad line of separa- made to herd with the last. In all these pron the one side of which will be ranged ceedings the principles of criticism are disrects as cannot with any reasonable pre-garded, and common sense is abused. - without absurd suppositions, be called. stion; and on the other, such as may and in good faith be made matter of con-y. Nothing is more important to the anagement of common affairs, or to the sful prosecution of philosophical inqui- to the safe determination of theologiestions, than the establishment of this tion; a distinction to which strong resort and are safe, and in the neglect of the feeble fall into endless perplexities. very laborious examination of ancient is required in order to perceive that they on satisfactory grounds, be distributed hree classes: The first including those -and it is by far the greater numberenuineness of which is, in the most absoense, indisputable. The second class, s have a doubtful claim to authenticity, which, unless some new evidence should duced, must always remain liable to conThe third class will comprehend "Absolute certainty in matters of antiquity may result, either from an accumulation of various evidence, to such an amount that numerous deductions may be made from it without affecting the conclusion; or from some particular coincidence of proof, of that kind which admits of no opposite supposition. In most instances, where there is a great accumulation of evidence, there will be found among it some such special proofs. "A degree of doubt on points of antiquity may arise, either from a mere paucity of direct evidence, or from its indistinctness or ambiguity; or from some internal incongruity in the evidence; or lastly, from a direct opposition of existing testimonies. In the two words Defect and Contrariety, all the sources of doubt are summed up." pp. 4-8. In the following eight chapters Mr. Taylor examines the credibility of Herodotus as an historian, and the genuineness of his works. He pursues this inquiry by collecting the particu has been quoted and alluded to during a thousand years-namely, from 150 to 1150 A. D.; and, lastly, that he is mentioned or quoted by different authors, whose testimony extends from the first-mentioned period to his own times. This part of the argument being thus complete, our author proceeds to prove, from the genuineness of the work, its general authenticity. The proof in support of this is, that Herodotus, having lived in times of great public excitement, and having written on subjects which would provoke the inquiry of almost every class of persons, could not, had he been so inclined, have foisted untruths upon them. The truth of his narrative is further made out by the testimony of other writers of the same period, who relate or allude to the facts contained in his history. Of these are Thucydides, Pindar, Eschylus, Lysias the Orator, and others, whose repeated incidental mention of the particular events on which the historian wrote, prove their reality beyond all doubt. This finishes the former part of Mr. Taylor's design; and he next contrasts this well and firmly connected chain of evidence with examples of historical evidence of a less perfect kind. The difference between these is principally owing to the former being derived from deductions from known and accredited information, and the latter coming to us through a medium whose purity entirely depends on the moral qualities of the historian. The examples our author makes use of to illustrate his meaning are taken from the first book of Herodotus himself. In the first part of this, that great man relates events which took place more than a thousand years before he wrote, and of course our assent to his account must be a very modified one. The narrative respecting the Lydian king Croesus, who lived a hundred years prior to Herodotus, and the review of Assyrian, Median, and Persian history, are liable to the same observation, and afford excellent instances of relations claiming our assent in very different degrees. The next chapter in Mr. Taylor's volume is occupied with remarks on the writers who have undertaken to oppose the pretensions of Herodotus as an historian. These are, among the ancients, Ctesias, Manitho, Diodorus, Strabo, Josephus, and particularly Plutarch. Among the moderns are to be mentioned the celebrated Ludovicus Vives, Parker, Bodin, Wheare, Isaac Vossius, and Voltaire. The objections of these authors, however, are most of them either drawn from those parts of the history which are open to doubt, from the reasons we have already mentioned; or they are founded on mistaken readings of the text, or obstinate and perverse prejudices. This chapter completes the foundation of Mr. Taylor's argument in elucidation of Christian historical evidence. It will have been clearly seen by our readers, how closely every part of it is applicable to the questions which have been started on the subject, and how admirably it is adapted, like the general theorem of a mathematician, to be applied to a vast variety of cases, but particularly to that of Christian historical evidence. The remaining portion of the volume is de | pics more or less connected with the main subs ject, and some of them containing remarks the greatest value. We give, as best adapted to our purpose, the following, which, with our extract from the former part of the volume will give our readers a complete idea of this in teresting work. "We must yet revert for a moment to the subject of the miraculous knowledge of he guages: The displays of the Divine power and wis dom in the material world, are all, in truth, equally admirable, equally astonishing; yet, from the narrowness of our range of intellectual vision, and the imperfection of our reasoning powers, it will ever happen that particular instances, in which either the fitness of the means to the end, or the excellence and beauty of the workmanship, are peculiarly apparent, will affect our minds more strongly than som other results of the same invariable intel gence. And thus, among those unwonted ma nifestations of the presence of the Supreme Agent by which the truth of the Christian re ligion was attested, there are some which more sensibly than others declare the hand of God "We hazard, then, the assertion, that, among the miracles recorded in the New Testament none will so much fix the attention of reflect ing minds as the gift of tongues. Nor, per haps, is there one which stands further remores from all possible supposition of a merely phys cal agency, or of illusion or imposture. "Inasmuch as the miraculous impartation languages was a work wrought upon that sub stance of whose mechanism and ordinary law. we are acquainted by consciousness, we fce qualified, in some measure, to follow or to serv tinize the Divine agency further beneath th surface, than in the case of supernator changes effected on brute matter or on the an mal frame. Or if the movements of the D vine hand are equally inscrutable in this as every other operation, yet, at least, the know ledge we possess of the ordinary processes the mind in accumulating ideas, puts us in position to contemplate more nearly this won drous bestowment of a sudden intellectus wealth. "If the human mind, as well as the materi world, was to become the subject of supernat ral agency, there are several imaginable moo in which this end might be accomplished. example: its sensibilities and its perceptions moral good might be so quickened or perfec as should ensure an invariably virtuous choi Or its powers of continuous reasoning, and intuitive comprehension, might be so stren ened and expanded, as should bring the m remote, or complicated, or multifarious cor quences, within the range of its easy and stantaneous apprehension. Or its powers combination might receive an impulse of s activity and exactness, as should place its command, in the happiest order, all possi ideas that the material and immaterial wor may furnish. Any such extraordinary exa tions of the faculties would indeed draw eyes of mankind upon the individual. these gifts, how dazzling or excellent so they might be, are still of an indefinite men, the proof of that fact is to be the ting the presence of a supernatural | astonishing exemplification of the powers of nind. Nor do the ever-admirable works of the Creator offer to our inspection any piece of machinery more amazing than that by which this rapid and complicated movement is effected. Even if one system of signs only had been known to man, the steady, exact, and incalculably rapid performances of this immaterial machinery, which connects mind with mind, might seem complicated and difficult enough. A faculty which enables its possessor, without error, without embarrassment, without conscious effort, to play upon fifty or a hundred thousand keys, distinguished from each other by the minutest differences, holds forth, surely, a high proof of the infinite power and intelligence of the Creator! But the human mind is capable of sustaining, without confusion, a double, a treble, a quadruple, complication of this intricate apparatus. For, by a certain process, though indeed a toilsome one, there may be inserted upon this first set of so many thousand keys, the threads of which one might imagine a breath of disturbance must throw into hopeless entanglements, another, and yet another, myriad of signs. And though, if the interior of the machine could be laid open, it must seem packed with a dense, countless crowd of ever-moving atoms, yet the commanding faculty, to whose management the boundless wealth is committed, not at all bewildered, oppressed, or hurried, but rather strengthened in its throne and rule by the accumulation of affairs-calınly, yet with the rapidity of the lightning flash, calls up the obscurest particle, from the mingled inillions-marshals its vari ous hosts, and orders the array of speech, at the command of faculties still higher in dignity than itself. Such are the powers of the human mind-such, rather let us say, is the excellent workmanship of God! "Yet the labour of years is ordinarily required to furnish the mind with new sets of signs. Nor, indeed, is every mind naturally susceptible of this elaborated repletion of its machinery. But here we have a record of unquestioned genuineness, and bearing every possible mark of authenticity, in which it is affirmed that many of the members of an association, gathered chiefly from the lower classes possessed this rare command of various tongues. We hear them calmly instructed in the right use of the amazing endowment; and the writer, not boastful of the possession in himself, or in the sect of which he was a leader, enforces rather the dictates of true wisdom, and recommends his argument as much by plain good sense as by shining eloquence. Let these facts, so marvellous, yet so consistent, be explained, if they may, on any supposition which excludes the immediate agency of God." pp. 192-198. hat remains, then, but the knowledge of languages, for the accomplishment of cific purpose in view?-A language is a llection of particular and definite facts; ch a knowledge of it as is implied in the to maintain fluent discourse, intelligible ves, is not a vague possession of indisotions, but a firm hold of five times ten nd exact recollections. A living lanis, moreover, a collection of particular Camiliarly known to the mass of the peoSo that a pretension to speak it may be I of as competently by an artizan as by a r: indeed, nothing less than a vernacue of his native tongue would gain the an uneducated person. Again; a faand available knowledge of a foreign age is an acquirement in a high degree ous and difficult to most men;-an acnent which few adults make with entire ss-which many could never make; and hich, in the progress of it, can neither be urried nor hidden. The existence, there- We close this valuable and useful work with of an opulent profusion of this peculiar the highest satisfaction at its contents, and es of knowledge among the members of with a strong recommendation of it to the atmiscuous association, most of whom were tention of our readers. If it have any faults, estly destitute of those powers of mind they are to be found in the too slight connecf those sedulous habits which would be tion which the author has made between his pensable even to a much inferior degree of theorem and his practical problem; or rather, iency, exhibited the highest imaginable | in his not having more distinctly and strongly 554 Joy. sequent chapters of the work; in which, beautiful as are the illustrations and forcible the arguments, they are not presented to the mind of an ordinary reader with that closeness of application which shows him the horns of the dilemma, and compels his assent to the truth. Let the Materialist come forth with his prob lenis and his experiments, with his mastery over forms and elements, and his laws and principles: we dare meet him with his own weapons, and contend with him in his own sphere, let him narrow it as he will. Let the Sceptic, who finds his wisdom in doubting, hold Of the subject, in general, of which Mr. out our Scriptures as the least credible of all Taylor has treated, we have already spoken; histories: we are ready to argue with him on and we think ourselves particularly fortunate grounds which he dares not, for his own comin having been again able to present to our readers a work of such value on Christian evi- sistency's sake, refuse. Let the Moralist heap up gems from the old rich treasuries of his lore dence. In our last Number we reviewed a in the ancient East or philosophizing Greece, publication on the same important branch of theological study, taken in a different point of and we will take, from the simple casket that the Galilean peasants have left us, pearls that view, and meeting objections of a different will surpass his costliest jewels. Or, lastly, class. In our notice of the present work we have had to praise the same vigour of thought let the Philosopher of a nobler rank, the specawhich distinguishes the essay of Mr. Hamp-lator on the harmonizing principles of our den, and the same acuteness in examining the historical evidence which that gentleman displayed in the investigation of religious analogies. being, meet us with his high and subtle questions: there is no mountain-top of science, no spot in the wide firmament of thought, to which the mind of man may soar, where the Christian scheme will not be found the development of the sublimest mysteries. Such is our estimate of the resources we have to prove the truth of our faith; and we trust that every day will bring forth some practical exemplification of our remarks. From the Assistant of Education. JOY. WHO sings of joy?-who bids the golden Wake to the waving of her bounding wings?— Her home is heaven; for her Lord is there; There is yet another branch of Christian evidence which we should rejoice to see treated, but the undertaking would require the grasp of a mighty intellect, and the elevation of the devoutest spirit-we mean, the testimonies adducible in proof of Christianity from the nature of man himself, in the fearfulness and wonders of his being, and in the mighty mysteries which are developed by every thought he conceives, by every action he purposes, and even by the very throbbings of his heart. We are no advocates of Aristotelian subtleties; we are no friends of German divinity: we would neither tolerate the mystics of the last century, nor the schoolmen of the middle ages, could they even solve us their fantastic problems: but we would advance, by all means in our that study of human nature, that diving power, into the deep places of the heart, that calling up of the spirit from its retirements, and that unfolding of the hundred times folded mantle in which we are bound up, which is the higher and sublimer part of that science which the wise old heathen taught, when he said Iva TUTO. The more we have had occasion to think on this subject, the more we are convinced, that, without laying aside one atom of Christian simplicity, the most extensive view of our human nature might be taken, in all its multiplied dependencies and connexions; and Raised in a moment, perishing as fast; from which an argument of the most powerful A passing beam upon a vapour cast; description might be drawn, in answer to the perverse reasonings of falsely named philoso-The wandering gleams of an illusive fire, phers. But, as we cannot at present pursue this subject farther, let us observe, in conclusion, that the investigation of this branch of evidence would be only particularly useful to minds of a certain class, and requiring a particular method of conviction. To all, however, whose hope and rejoicing are founded on the Gospel, it is matter of deep and earnest delight to know, that, whether or not they want other proof of its truth than the spirit within them gives; whether they are confirmed or unconfirmed in their belief, there is no want of proofs, whatever doubts may arise; no want of answers, whatever questionings may be started. Hampden on the Philosophical Evidence of Christianity. Upon whose eye, whose footstep she attends, hind: Which sparkle to mislead and then expire; Shall joys like these call forth the glowing strain ? Let that heart sing of joy, which can its joy retain ! Christian-draw near; thou canst awake Within thine inmost soul, and raise eaming on thy raptured mind, th many a bright and glorious scene, Il she leave thee; even now, roughout this weary land, coronet is on thy brow, er harp is in thine hand. e then, oh, strike the golden Strings, id sing the Name divine, 1 whence thy joy perennial springs, e seraph's Lord-and thine. the unfathomable love, he wisdom, truth and grace Iim who left the world above > take the sinner's place. oved the cup of grief from thee, nd drank its deepest wo; bade thy soul from sorrow free, is joy for ever know. is thy joy, He is thy praise, Tho did thy soul redeem, HE shall be to endless days ine unexhausted theme. fount of purest pleasure knows r changes nor alloy; joy that from GOD'S PRESENCE flows. EVERLASTING JOY. loTA. rom the Christian Remembrancer. DERATIONS ON MIRACLES. By Rev. C. W. Le Bas, M. A. Rector of St. Shadwell, and late Fellow of Trinity ge, Cambridge. London: Murray. pp. 1828. little volume, the substance of which, earn from the title-page, first appeared British Critic for January, 1827, is dedio the Bishop of Chester; by whose enement and approbation chiefly the aus been induced to submit his observathis form to the judgment of the pubTe believe that few persons, who read inal article, would not heartily concur propriety of the recommendation given earned Prelate. The importance of the is undeniable: and it is here treated ch ability, as fully to entitle the work inct place of its own. We wish to have se, so powerful and masterly as this, not in the pages of a review, however po-1 maananiahla. it should occupy an in It is right, however, that we should warn persons of frivolous and undisciplined minds, who are incapable either of listening to a close reasoner, or of comprehending him if they do listen, that they will probably not be disposed at once to join in this language of approbation. They have much to do in the way of mental exercise, before they can be qualified to appreciate the merits of this treatise; but we can assure them for their comfort, that if they will only give a good resolute summons to their thinking powers, they will soon discover in these pages much to interest their attention: and we promise further, that when they have well digested the instruction here presented to them, they will find their faculties strengthened by the discipline, and will have the satisfaction of contemplating this great department of the evidences of religion with a clearness of perception which will amply reward them for their toil. We shall endeavour to lay before our readers the general outline of the argument; and shall make a free use of the very words of the author wherever it suits our convenience. We mention the circumstance generally here, to spare the trouble of continued acknowledgment. What is a miracle? Mr. Le Bas very properly commences his subject with this inquiry -Are we to define it, with Dr. Johnson, as "something above human power," or with the Bishop of Peterborough, "as something which cannot be performed without the special interference of God?" This last definition is open to much objection, as involving a principle which may be, and has been disputed. We may easily admit an act to be above human power, and yet have very cogent reasons for doubting whether it was performed by the special interference of God. A plain reader of the Bible will find himself much more inclined to believe that some super-human events are to be ascribed to the limited agency of inferior beings, than to refer every thing of the kind to an immediate and special exertion of the divine power and an examination into the subject will supply him with strong reasons in support of his opinion. The consideration of this argument leads Mr. Le Bas to some remarks upon the theory of Farmer in his Essay on Miracles: a writer who, having adopted the notion that no inferior being can be entrusted with the power of supernatural action, denied altogether the reality of demoniacal possession, and reduced the tempta tion of our Lord to a mere unsubstantial mystery. In reply to this author, whose grand error is the presumption that we are in a condition to judge what mode of administering the moral government of the world is or is not compatible with the moral perfections of the Deity (p. 6), the argument of analogy is very happily brought forward. We see that evil ís allowed to enter in many forms into the exist. ence of God's providence: there is much of |
