ment and translation, or distinction in the divinity-school of a Lord Lyttleton or a Dr. Johnson.' pp. 10-12.

This is a sufficiently faithful and by no means overcharged representation. Mr. M. proceeds to divide the ministers of the National Church' into four classes, the Secular, the Latitudinarian, the Orthodox, and the Evangelical. The latter are thus characterized :

Scattered up and down, they were opposed to the Secular class, by their devotedness to the duties of their function; to the Latitudinarian, by their jealous adherence to the letter and spirit of Revelation; and to the Orthodox, by their faithfulness in proclaiming the doctrines of grace, and declaring the whole counsel of God, while they equalled them in theological correctness and in moral consistency. There were also in this class certain subdivisions; some preferring the Calvinistic, others the Arminian scheme in divinity: they not only differed in their mode of stating divine truths in the pulpit, but were sometimes led to oppose each other in the press; while a religious zeal, acting on a warm temperament, became insensibly mixed with the baser alloy of party spirit and logical contention; and too often gave occasion of malignant joy to the enemies of that Gospel which the disputants mutually reverenced, as they saw revived in members of the pure and tolerant Church of Britain, a portion of that controversial rancour which had maintained the respective causes of the chairs of Amsterdam and Geneva, or had mingled in the quarrels of the Jansenists and Jesuits. The Evangelical divines differed again as to the phraseology which becomes the rostrum of public instruction; some conceiving that the language of the preacher might be sufficiently plain without descending to partial vulgarisms which might give needless offence to the ear of taste; others holding that abstinence from rude images and familiar style was in its degree an evasion of the offence of the cross, and that it were better, since the majority is poor and unlearned, to draw from their Master's quiver the jagged arrow than the polished shaft, to give the salutary wound of conviction. Some of them also, lamenting the darkness which overspread their native land in religious matters, and deeply impressed with a sense of the danger of that state of unconversion in which they beheld so many of their countrymen, deemed that their commission extended beyond the pale of their own parishes, and were fain, in their love of souls, to become itinerant heralds of the tidings of salvation, and exhort sinners to flee to Jesus, in a barn, a conventicle, or even in the open air. Others, and those by far the greater number, considered this step as inconsistent with that regularity of ministration which became a national priesthood, incompatible with the vow of canonical obedience, and calculated to prejudice their civil and ecclesiastical superiors against the most serious and devoted of the clergy. Nor must it be omitted, that many of these excellent men were distinguished by the manner in which they addressed their congregations, not confining themselves to the substance of a written discourse, but

delivering their harangues from short notes, memoriter, or extempore, according to the custom of the English preachers under the house of Stuart, and before the prevalence of indiscreet oratory in a time of trouble and exacerbation rendered it expedient to introduce a more cautious mode of preaching. They also revived, in some of their congregations, the custom of singing hymns and spiritual songs, abounding with Evangelical sentiment, in addition to the common versions of the Psalms of David.' pp. 40-42.

Such were the small beginnings of that party in the Church of England, which now bears the name of evangelical. The volume contains biographical notices of the leading individuals among this body. At their head ranks the venerable Romaine. To him succeed, the Rev. Messrs. Thomas Jones, Foster, Madan, Spencer, Stonhouse, Hart, Toplady, Walker, Fletcher, De Courcy, Talbot, Maddock, Berridge, Newton, Adam, Grimshaw, Venn, Powley, Atkinson, Conyers. A few names of minor note are added, but the above were all of any eminence within the first decade,' extending from 1760 to 1770.

'Thus,' remarks the Author, did Jehovah, who is wise in counsel and wonderful in working, who hath put the times and seasons in his own power, vouchsafe to revive the dying spirit of religion in the Established Church of England, and render the first decade of the reign of George the Third an interesting era in the history of the Reformation. Thus did he recruit the expiring lamps of the sanctuary, bid the rod of the priesthood be covered with new blossoms, and send a gracious rain to refresh his vineyard when it was weary. This revival was effected by human instruments of various talents, attainments, and degrees of spiritual light; and while divine illumination resides in human breasts, and the hidden manna is enclosed in earthly vessels, imperfection will more or less attach to the operations of the Church. But if over-scrupulosity in some, and latent enmity in others, have magnified the inadvertencies, or aggravated the irregularities, of men of God, it will be the office of the impartial historian to place them in their true light, and exhibit their bearings in a less prejudiced point of view. It is, however, a more pleasing task to record their excellencies, and to notice how their characteristic differences were compatible with the relation they bore to the common Head. The various tints in the bow of Heaven are all produced by the same process of refraction; the different fragrancies of the flowers of Eden all arise from the same law of exhalation; and if the zeal of Luther was seen in Romaine, the perseverance of Calvin in Toplady, the sweetness of Melancthon in Newton, the elegance of Erasmus in De Courcy, the research of Beza in Madan, and the diligence of Zuinglius in Grimshaw, we hail them as united confessors of "one Lord, one faith, one baptism."' pp. 82-84.

The close of this extract is not in the purest taste; the style of the work is, indeed, very far from being chaste or pleasing.

But it contains much interesting information relating to the progress of evangelical religion in the Church, from this period, up to the close of the last century; and a series of biographi cal notices are given, which are serviceable for the purposes of reference. Some of these, however, are extremely meagre. The notice of the Rev. W. Grimshaw, for instance, is much too brief. But it is not our intention to pursue any further our examination of the volume. It has afforded us some pleasure, by enabling us to retrace, though very imperfectly, the history of the period, and we only wish that it had been more competently executed.

Art. VI. Testimonies to the Truths of Natural and Revealed Religion; extracted from the Works of distinguished Laymen. By the Rev. James Brewster, Minister of Craig, and Author of "Lectures on Christ's Sermon on the Mount." 12mo. pp. 380. Price 5s. 6d. Edinburgh. 1822.

UGALD STEWART has remarked, that authorities are 'not arguments.' It would be more correct, perhaps, to say, that authorities are not proofs; for the argument which authorities supply, is good, when properly conducted. That a thing is probable, is surely an argument for believing it. Now a probability in favour of the truth of a thing, is furnished by the very circumstance of its having been believed by competent judges; because that belief must have had some evidence or some appearance of truth, on which to found itself. In the absence of any contra-probability, the presumption is very strong that the thing is true; and we are accustomed to act, in a thousand instances, upon such a presumption. Authorities are a species of testimony; and testimony is evidence, which, though not demonstrative, is capable of reaching almost the force of demonstration. The influence of authorities is, therefore, derived from the reason of the thing, although it is often yielded to without reasoning about it, owing to that principle in our nature which impels us to conform ourselves to example. Those who blindly yield to authorities, act on this principle of imitation: their actions and their creed are determined by mere example. In this case, the influence of authorities may be delusive and mischievous, as precluding examination, and as leading to an implicit, indolent, irrational faith. Their true use is, to arrest attention, and to direct inquiry to the proper sources of evidence. But, inasmuch as they possess only the force of probabilities and presumptions, authorities, whether in religion or in science, can never be admitted to outweigh direct proofs on the opposite side.

The incalculable mischief which is attributable to a slavish deference to human authorities in matters of religion, has led some individuals to reject the argument drawn from them as altogether useless. But the evil has arisen from the mistaken use of the argument. It is our duty in religion to examine the Scriptures for ourselves. The use of arguments drawn from authorities and examples, is, to induce men to do so; to preclude that contempt for the truth prior to examination, which infidels generally discover. That Bacon, and Newton, and Milton believed, is no sufficient reason for my believing; but it is an unanswerable argument against the wisdom of my rejecting without examination what they found reason for believing. It shews at least the irrationality of that flippant infidelity which rests satisfied without devout inquiry. To disbelieve, ought to require, in such matters, as strong reasons as to believe. But he who disbelieves without examination, disbelieves without reason.

Authorities, then, prove the probability, though not the truth of a thing; and this is all that we want them to prove in the argument with an infidel. For, if he be once brought to think Christianity probable, he has the strongest rational motive to examine whether it be not indeed true. And that inquiry, the proper evidence of Christianity will not fail to satisfy.

But the infidel has authorities on his own side, to which he appeals, and to which he discovers an adherence not less fond, and implicit, and enslaving, than that which he is apt to ridicule in the subjects of priestcraft. Admitting the force of those authorities, although it might be shewn that they can never have that force on the negative side of a question, which they have on the positive,-yet, give to them, those wise and learned authorities of irreligion and infidelity, all the weight we have attributed to the opposite authorities; yet, if the individual disbelieves on the simple ground of their disbelief, he is obviously acting upon a mere possibility, that the thing may be false, upon a mere presumption against it, founded on its having been disbelieved; is acting as if it were proved to be so. If he stops here without satisfying himself that it is false, he is acting not less servilely and more irrationally, than the person who believes on the strength of a mere presumption, without troubling himself to examine the direct evidence. The disbelief of learned infidels may be a good reason for not believing without examination; as the belief of learned Christians is a good reason for not rejecting without examination. But the former can be no reason for not believing, much less for not examining; just as the latter is not the reason for our belief, but only for our devout and humble inquiry.

The infidel tacitly admits the force of authorities, when he endeavours to evade or nullify the force of a very large class of them, those of the clerical advocates of Divine truth, by referring their belief or their zeal to personal interest or professional prejudice. We are chiefly indebted to National Establishments and richly endowed National Priesthoods, for the force of this prejudice, which has been incalculably strengthened by the dogmatism and intolerance of too many individuals of the order. But it is only, in fact,' as Mr. Brewster remarks,

• the very weakness of resting upon authorities more than upon reasons, that can account for this reluctance to allow their full weight to the statements of the professional teachers of religion; and the only effectual mode of counteracting these latent objections, (for they are such as many are ashamed to acknowledge, while they are acting under their influence,) is to produce that very species of authority which they are so much disposed to follow,-the authority of great

names.'

This will explain Mr. Brewster's design in undertaking this compilation, which has evidently cost him considerable pains. The plan of the work will be better understood from the following extract from the Preface.

The passages here brought together are of two very different descriptions; the one class consisting of the concessions of deistical writers, and the other containing the testimonies of avowed believers in Christianity. It was once intended to distribute them in separate divisions. But this plan, besides having an insidious appearance, would have been attended with various inconveniences; and, particularly, would have required a complete repetition of nearly the same heads of chapters and sections. With regard to the arrangement of the extracts, as they now stand, it will be obvious, that their place in the volume was necessarily regulated by the principal subject on which they touched; and that it would have been impossible, without greatly mangling a passage, and weakening its impression, or even altering its import, to have excluded every sentence which referred to other topics. Many of these passages, therefore, might have been placed with almost equal propriety, under different titles or sections; but it is hoped, that they are in general so distributed as to carry on a series of illustrations, and to form as natural a connexion, in a sort of system, as detached portions of different works could well be expected to preserve.'

The general heads under which the extracts are arranged are as follow:

Chapter I. Testimonies to the irrational nature and injurious effects of atheism, scepticism, and irreligion. II. Testimonies to the Principles of Morals, and the foundation of Virtue. III. Testi