gence, the cheerfulness, and the spirit with which our personal duties are fulfilled. Few men duly consider the patience, the self-denial, or the steady attention to the will of God, which these duties require." To obviate the evils that flow from this source, Dr. Erskine enters particularly into the consideration of personal fidelity. The first particular mentioned by the author, is "an habitual and practical remembrance that God hath appointed us our different conditions, and that a proper discharge of the duties resulting from them, from a regard to his authority, is, indeed, service due, and service done to God." (p. 30.) Having considered this point, he enlarges on the following particulars, included in personal fidelity: honest and assiduous endeavours to understand the duties of our callings, and to acquire the talents necessary to perform them well: making conscience of the difficult as well as of the easier duties: not neglecting our proper employments for the sake of pleasures: doing as much good in our calling as we have the means or opportunities of doing: fulfilling all the duties of our situation, and not merely a part of them and performing them in defiance of every worldly motive that may tempt us to neglect or violate them. From this sermon we extract one passage, as a word in season in this pleasure-taking age. "Men passionately fond of amusements, are slow, careless, and unfaithful in their active duties-By a strange perversion of their time, and of their talents, amusements become their grand object; and it is chiefly to furnish themselves with the means of procuring and enjoying them, that their active business, or professional duties are pursued with any degree of solicitude. It is no excuse for this kind of perversion, that the amusements which men follow, are not in themselves inconsistent with religion or with virtue. The abuse of an innocent enjoyment is not innocent: and gratifications, in their own nature allowable, degenerate into vices or crimes, when, in the pursuit of them, the mind becomes vain or dissipated; when by means of them most important duties are neglected; or when the conscience is sensibly grieved or wounded. The pleasures of social intercourse are in themselves both honourable and virtuous; yet when on their account something far more weighty and important is neglected; as for example, the safety of the king or the country; the labours of a professional of fice or employment; the faithful education of children; or the provision and government of a private family; social intercourse becomes then indeed a criminal indulgence for which no apology can be pleaded, either to our consciences, or before God the judge of all, however lawful or precious it might have been in different circumstances. To make it the business of every day to kill time agreeably, and when one amusement is past, to long without ceasing for another, is an abuse of the understanding, of the will, of the affections, and of the active powers, neither manly nor Christian. Alas! an habitual inattention to purity of heart, to amendment of life, and to preparation for eternity, hath often produced, and hath often been punished by a settled and determined carelessness in the performance of the most necessary duties belonging to men's secular callings. Here, a son of levity and dissipation squanders his precious hours, as if for his manner of employing thein he were not accountable to God or man. The most interesting affairs entrusted to him, which he alone can manage with advantage, are completely over looked or neglected; while those who depend on him for advice, or for support, or for relief, and who have a good right to expect them from him, look and hope for them in vain. There, a daughter of vanity hurries from one place of public entertainment to another; while perhaps her tender infant languishes under a deadly disease, and sighs in vain for a mother's care. Many, on the other hand, do with disgust and aversion that which, to save appearances, they feel themselves constrained to do: and hence they do slightly, and without effect, that which cannot be well or sufficiently done without both exertion and toil. Woe to the nation, to the church, and to the army, in which men occupy important stations, and have no taste for, and find no pleasure in, supporting the labours connected with them. Would you be faithful to him who hath allotted you different relations and employments, be moderate in the pursuit of even the most innocent and lawful pleasures. Let not an attachment to the most alluring objects of present satisfaction or amusement, turn you aside from the important duties for which you were sent into the world, or hold the place assigned them: and watch your own hearts with a constant solicitude, that no present gratification may be permitted to hinder you in any circum stances, from discharging honestly, earnestly, and steadily, the trust committed to you by the Possessor and Lord of heaven and earth." (p. 310-312.) In the fifteenth sermon, which is on the Influence of Religion on nationał Happiness, the author shews in detail, how christian principles influence the conduct of the prince, the counsellor, the parliament-man, the judge, and the private christian, both towards his sovereign and his fellow subjects. From this excellent sermon we present our readers with the following quotation, which, like the last passage extracted, we conceive is peculiarly seasonable. We rejoice in being able to produce, from such respectable authority, a passage so congenial to our own feelings on the peaceable tendency of evangelical principles. "Will the subject, who has learned of his Saviour to be meck and humble, perplex and embarrass the state, or sacrifice the peace of his neighbour, to caprice and frolic? Whence come wars, and fightings, and strife, and debate? Come they not from pride and avarice, and unruly passion? Is then that principle of grace, which teaches us to mortify our corrupt passions and appetites, an enemy to the tranquillity of mankind? Will high and honourable thoughts of Him, who is the Perfection of beauty, blind us to that beauty in creatures, which is all derived from him as its source, and which reflects, though but obscurely and imperfectly, his superior lustre ? Will thankfulness to the Father of lights, from whom cometh every good and perfect gift, promote ingratitude to our fellow creatures, whom he employs as instruments, in conveying to us his benefits? Where is the connexion, between loving God, even the Father; and hating man, who was made after the similitude of God? Is our attaining, what is more rare and difficult, the love of God, whom we have not seen, any hindrance to our attaining what is more common and casy, the love of our brother, whom we have seen? When we esteem and love the Deity, we esteem and love justice, and truth, and goodness, and mercy." (p. 344) We could have added many more extracts, which would have done equal credit with the foregoing to the piety, the good sense, and the ability of the author. Enough, we trust, has been produced, to convey to our readers the impression which we ourselves have received of the excellence and utility of these discourses. They well deserve a place in every christian library. They are solid, judicious, and highly practical: and though certainly deficient in pathos, they are distinguished by such comprehensive views of the nature and various relations of man, as a being formed for eternity; by such an intimate acquaintance with the duties thence arising, and with the secret springs which usually influence human conduct; and, above all, by such just conceptions of evangelical doctrines and evangelical motives; that they cannot fail to increase the knowledge, and they are certainly well calculated, under the blessing of God, to mend the heart, and improve the morals, of every man, who will give them an attentive perusal. CLXXI. The Guide to Immortality; or, Memoirs of the Life and Doctrine of Christ, by the Four Evungelists; digested into one continued Narrative, according to the Order of Time and Place laid down by Archbishop Newcome; in the Words of the established Version, with Improvements; and illustrated with Notes, Moral, Theological, and Explanatory; tending to delineate the true Character and Genius of Christianity. By ROBERT FELLOWES, A. M. Oxon. Vol. I. II and III. 8vo. London, White. 1804. THIS is the fourth diatessaron which the elegant Greek Diatessaron of Dr. White has produced in the space of a few years. Mr. Fellowes was, undoubtedly, induced to undertake such a work by a tender concern for the cause of Socinianism—a cause, which, with some others, religious and irreligious, we are exultingly informed is in a progressive state. We ought not to be surprised, therefore, to find its patrons increase. In order to the furtherance of this cause, one of its principal patrons, the writer before us, has thought it necessary to represent the four gospels as exclusively the fountain of every theological truth requisite to be known, and of every moral duty requisite to be practised. As Mr. Fellowes takes more advantage even of this defective representation than it will warrant, we consider it of some importance to observe, that it was the proper object of our blessed Saviour's life to lay the foundation, and supply the subject, of the gospel, not to promulgate its peculiar and fundamental doctrines, which, depending entirely upon what he did and suffered, particularly upon his death, resurrection, ascension, and advancement to supreme glory and power, could not with propriety be fully published till after he had left this world. That the apostles were appointed to make this more open publication of the nature of the new covenant, founded upon the character and actions of the Saviour; and that the holy spirit was given to them, in fulfilment of a formal and solemn promise, for this very purpose, we believe no competent and unbiassed reader of the gospels themselves will presume to dispute. The scrupulosity, with which the evangelists confine themselves to the simple duty of narrators proves, that their narrations were as little intended to convey a perfect system of christianity. The epistolic part, therefore, of the christian code is neither a needless, nor an inferior portion of the holy scriptures: on the contrary, in some respects, we assert its superiority. We pass over the crude observations, occurring in the preface of the first volume, concerning free and literal translations; as likewise the antiquated Socinian cant, (will Mr. Fellowes permit us to say?) about mysteries. We cannot easily reconcile ourselves to the repetition of what has been said a hundred times before, although it be to refute error. But p. xviii contains something curious: it is an attempt to prove, that the sixth . article of our church, which asserts the exclusive sufficiency of the scriptures, totally invalidates any obligation arising from subscription to the rest; so that any one who may "differ from the doctrines deduced from those scriptures, in what are called the articles of his church," is justified both in denying and oppugning principles which he has solemnly subscribed. This is an argument, which we hardly expected to find even in a Socinian system of logic. What reception Mr. Fellowes's invitation to parliament, to grant a relief from subscription to articles-an object which the preceding argument seems to have sufficiently effected-will meet with, we pretend not to divine: but we think that the assertion, in which our author has not scrupled to say, that "many" of the articles "have been either openly impugned or tacitly denied by many bishops and dignitaries of the establishment, and by numbers of the inferior clergy," p. xx. will be repelled with some indignation, particularly by the more vehement opposers of Mr. Overton. 66 The first note on the first passage of the body of this work, (the text of the Gospels itself,) represents that passage (Luke i. 1-4) as very important," because it proves that St. Luke's Gospel "was not the product of miraculous inspiration." (p. 1.) We do not suppose, that St. Luke was omniscient; and, therefore, we doubt not that he used the natural means of information, as well as the other sacred writers: but that he was really inspired in penning his gospel, and that his gospel affords no contradiction to this supposition, in spite of what Michaelis and others have said, we make no hesitation in asserting. On the beginning of St. John's gospel, describing the Logos, we have a great deal, as might be expected, but nothing new. Mr. Fellowes observes a similarity between this passage and the description of Wisdom in Prov. viii. But his inference of the personification of a divine attribute in St. John is certainly no better founded than the opinion of the primitive fathers, who interpret the Wisdom in the Proverbs personally of Christ. Mr. Fellowes likewise should understand, that there is much more convincing proof, that St. John's gospel was written against the heretics of the Gnostic school, than against what he calls Gentile Christians. Lardner's prejudices deserve little regard: one of his merits was that he did not officiously bring them forward. The Logos, according to our author, is synonymous with God, or the same being; an interpretation, which reduces the very first sentences of this sublime introduction to absolute fatuity. But the same Logos (or God) is called the light: this light in the fourth verse is God, in the fifth it becomes "the Messiah, the great and divine teacher of righteousness, the visible image of the wisdom of God." (p. 6.) But this light becomes God again, (p. 7.) Quo teneam cultus, &c. A note (pp. 8, 9,) would lead us to suppose, that, in Mr. Fellowes's opinion, the orthodox interpretation, because it asserts the divinity as well as personality of the Logos, does not allow him to be man-anotorious Socinian perversion. Our readers will be inquisitive to know what Mr. Fellowes makes of the fourteenth verse of this important chapter. Their curiosity, however, will not be gratified. Our author probably could not satisfy himself, and it was not likely that he should take much pains to satisfy them. We do not feel any pleasure in reflecting upon the morality of this procedure. We pass over a good deal just to notice Mr. Fellowes's interpretation of the reason given for the name of Jesus; for he shall save his people from their sins." Matt. i. 21. Instructing them," says the commentator, "in the way of righteousness by his doctrine, and affording them the strongest motives to righteousness by his resurrection." (p. 33.) And is this all? Some presumptuous and groundless remarks concerning prophecy follow, (pp. 33-39.) Some trite and common-place observations, (pp. 53-56,) Mr. Fellowes flatters himself will deserve attention. He has pronounced, (pp. 63-64,) very peremptorily concerning the passage in Josephus, which refers to Christ, in contradiction to Michaelis. We have examined the subject carefully, and think with Mr. Fellowes but certainly should not have spoken as he has. We expected that John iii, would give our author some trouble; and a fong note verified our expectations. (See pp. 113, &c.) He interprets regeneration rather ambiguously of a radical change, which wicked men must undergo in their evil habits and affections. The spirit is not acknowledged, either as a divine or personal agent, or even as a divine influence. Socinianism and Pelagianism combined to exclude all these interpretations. Read his comment on the words, "that which is born of the spirit, is spirit:"-" signifying," (says Mr. Fellowes) "that his doctrine, if cherished in the mind and affections, and aided, in its salutary operations on the soul, by the favour of the Father of Spirits, would thoroughly change and improve the man," &c. (p. 115.) This ingenious style of interpretation reminds us of its general * Observe the cursory dispatch, and glaring perversion, with which Mr. Fellowes passes over, and endeavours to suppress the effect of, the greatest part of this important discourse, which contains so clear a declaration of the cardinal doctrine of the gospel, the redemption of man by Jesus Christ, the Son of God. This passage, doubtless, stauds by mistake in Mr. Fellowes's Codex Evangelicus, in which morality is allinall, application by our author; and we take the favourable opportunity now presented us of explaining it. The process is as follows. Mr. Fellowes considers the words that lie in his text; and if he can, by any means, in any connection, and with any sense, interweave them in a sentence purporting to explain them, he imagines that he has thoroughly succeeded, and given, not only a good, but the very best interpretation. This is an important canon of criticism: nothing can withstand it. If dexterously applied, it will extract any given sense from any given text. We have sometimes considered the reader of such a work as the present in the light of a horse, whose rider is constantly employing the bit and bridle to turn him out of the course in which he would naturally go, and as constantly employing the whip or spur to urge him forward in every oblique and unnatural direction. Such a reader feels himself forcibly restrained from pursuing the literal and obvious sense of scripture: he sees his course plain before him; but he is constantly checked, or turned out of the way, by some arbitrary dictate of his instructor. If he betrays a natural reluctance to follow the crooked course in which he is directed, the stimuli of hard names, such as bigot, time-server, enthusiast, &c. are in readiness to enforce the obedience of the rational animal. P. 118, Mr. Fellowes admits a mystery, not only in physics, but even in theology! In pp. 119 and 157, passages plainly expressive of the divinity of our Saviour, are dismissed without a word of comment. Our author's sentiments concerning the observation of the sabbath are far from being rigid. (p. 174. See likewise, p. 335, and Vol. II. p. 178.) P. 237 we are taught, in emphatic italics, that " a good moral life is. the only indispensable condition of salvation." And, perhaps, as a proof of his own morality, especially his charity, Mr. Fellowes consigns to the future" place of misery and torment" those, particularly," who have taught the " false and periCious doctrines" "of innate depravity, imputed righteousness," &c. (p. 316.) The remaining volumes will detain us a shorter time. In Vol. II. p. 121, Mr. Fellowes classes the existence of the evil spirit among the popular persuasions of the Jews, to which he represents, with other writers, chiefly Socinian, our Lord as accommodating his language. We do not think that the authority of Mr. Fellowes requires us to say much upon the subject. We shall content ourselves, therefore, with observing in this place, that we know no more objection, a priori, against the existence of this evil being, than against that of any other evil being whatever. German divinity is against us we know, but of that we make little ac count. The words "Before Abraham was, I am," or, was, John viii. 58, Mr. Fellowes explains, "I was promised to Adam, to Enoch," &c. (p. 130.) The satisfaction of Christ is denied and calumniated, (p. 155.) We were rather surprised to find Matt. xx. 23. justly translated-" is not mine to give but to those for whom it is prepared," &c. The circumlocutory and faulty manner in which it is translated in our authorized version has often created our astonishment, when we consider that the translation adopted appears to militate against the divine character of Christ, especially when we consider that the same particle (xx), exactly in the same construction, was properly translated at so small a distance before as the chapter immediately preceding, (ver. 11.) Schleusner adopts the same translation. Lex. tom. i. p. 120, ed. ult. and Biel, in his Lex. Sept., on the word, refers to Num. x. 30. and xxxv. 33. for the sense of nisi, or except. Upon the assertion of Christ that he came to give his life a ransom for many," Matt. xx. 28. Mr. Fellowes observes, that "the death of Christ, by which he bore the most undeniable testimony to the truth of his doctrine, and set his followers an example of patience and hope under similar circumstances of affliction, is spoken of under the idea of a aulpov, a ransom, or price paid for our release from the captivity of the grave." (p. 302.) Of all fallacies, upon an important subject, that is the most plausible and pernicious, which would impose upon us a part only, and an inferior part, of the truth, for the whole truth. Truth itself then be CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 32. comes a purveyor to error. We wish our readers to notice the magic of the words "under the idea of," not only on account of their influence in this place, but especially because they afford a specimen of the usual method, by which Mr. Fellowes extricates himself from a difficulty. Idea, and its relatives, image, figure, &c. possess a wonderful potency, and can transform, in an instant, the most solid and tangible substances into vapour, spirit, or nothing. In a Socinian alembic, we have no doubt that Herod and Pontius Pilate, or any other cor poreal beings, might be converted into figurative representations with the utmost facility; or that the whole history of the New Testament might be subtilized into allegory, as was done by Woolston, and is said to have been done by some Quakers. With the assistance of M. Volney's powers, the apostles would suffer comparatively little violence by being turned into the twelve signs of the zodiac; and the sun and moon would quickly find their place in the evangelic history. We dismiss the second volume with just noticing Mr. Fellowes's attempt to invalidate the eternal sufferings of the wicked. (pp. 437, 438.) The objection urged against this doctrine, from the divine attributes, is the same in kind, although not in degree, as that which holds against the temporal sufferings we see to be actually inflicted. Our remarks on the concluding volume of this work will be few. The words applied by our Saviour to the sacramental cup, "this is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins," Matt. xxvi. 28., are interpreted, in the language of Archbishop Newcome, 66 blood shed for the ratification of the new covenant; and for the benefit of mankind, that their sins may be remitted to them on the conditions of that covenant." Whence Mr. Fellowes takes occasion again to deny and calumniate the doctrine of the atonement of the Lamb of God. (p. 32) His virulent aversion against this doctrine breaks out afresh," (p. 86.) To omit much. very much, besides which is offensive, we shall close our immediate reference to the work before us by adverting to what is said upon Matt. xxvii. 43, where Christ is justly reported to have claimed to |