mour with all about her, because she felt she had reason to be angry with herself, she would not say one word to Kitty or the children, when they came up to bed. I will leave my readers to conclude, whether she closed her eyes in that state of mind in which a Christian would wish to do, should it please God to call her out of the world during the night.

"Her wretched parents, now they felt the sad consequences of her excessive love of dress, acknowledged to each other, when it was too late, how much they had been to blame in bringing her up to suppose that her principal care should be to adorn her person." (p. 43—50.)

CLXXIV. An Essay on the Christian Sabbath, including Remarks on Sun

Ac

To the Editor of the Christian Observer. I TOOK Occasion, in a former number, to expose the inconsistency of the BRITISH CRITIC with himself. cording to the promise which I then gave, I now proceed to point out his heterodoxy. I will assume, as the ground of my argument, what neither you nor the British Critic will question; that the articles, homilies, and liturgy of the Church of England "do contain the true doctrine of that church agreeable to God's word*.” This being granted, my task will be rendered very easy for it will only be necessary to compare the assertions of the British Critic with those of the church, in order to manifest their contrariety. It may be convenient to state that the edition of the ho

milies, to which my appeal shall be made, is that printed at Oxford in

1802.

The following passages are extracted from the British Critic, and I must refer the reader to the notes upon them for the proof of their inconsistency with the opinions maintained by the Church of England.

"We cannot help expressing our astonishment," say the conductors of that work, "as Warburton expressed his, that any other death should have been understood by the denunciation, In the day that thou eatest thereof,

* See his Majesty's declaration prefixed to the articles.

states, that by Adam's breaking the com(1.) The homily of the nativity (p. 338) mandment of God, it came to pass that as before he was blessed, so now he was accursed; as before he was loved, so now he was abhorred; as before he was most beautiful and precious, so now he was most vile and wretched in the sight of his Lord and Maker: instead of the image of God, he was now become the image of the devil; instead of the citizen of heaven, he in bitself no one part of his former puriwas become the bond-slave of hell, having ty and cleanness, but being altogether spotted and defiled; insomuch that now he seemed to be nothing else but a lump of sin, and therefore by the just judgment of God was condemned to everlasting death." And to shew what is meant by the expression "everlasting death," it is added a little lower down," what a miserable and woeful state was this, that the sin of one man should destroy and condemn all

men, that nothing in all the world fnight

be looked for but only pangs of death and the case had Adam's soul, as well as his pains of hell." But coud this have been body, been mortat?

The homily of the passion is still more express in affirming, that the death to which Adam was sentenced, was not mere. ly "the forfeiture of immortality:" for after quoting (p. 355) the very passage of

"What is meant in the article by God's wrath and damnation? Evidently not eternal torments, unless the doctrine or the articles be at variance with that of St. Paul, Rom. v." Vol. XXI. p. 601. (3).

"Nothing can be clearer than that the first great purpose, though by no means the only purpose for which Christ came into the world, and suffered death upon a cross, was to restore to all mankind that immortality which was forfeited by the fall of Adam." Vol. XXI. p. 596 (2).

scripture, which is marked with Italics in the above extract from the British Critic, the following words are added—“ Now as the Lord had spoken, so it came to pass. Adam took upon him to eat thereof, and in so doing he died the death, that is to say, he became mortal, he lost the favour of God, he was cast out of paradise, he was no longer a citizen of heaven, but a firebrand of hell and a bond-slave to the devil. To this doth our Saviour bear witness in the gospel, calling us lost shp, which have gone astray and wandered from the true shepherd of our souls. To this also doth St. Paul bear witness, (Rom. v.) say-, ing, that by the offence of only Adam, death came upon all men to condemnation. (See note (3). So that now neither he, nor any of his, had any right or interest at all in the kingdom of heaven, but were become plain reprobates and castaways, being perpetually damned to the everlasting pains of hell-fire. Many other passages to the same purpose might be pointed out, but surely these are sufficient to establish, at least in one important instance, the difference between the British Critic and the Church of England.

(2.) It undoubtedly must appear very extraordinary, if the first great purpose of Christ's incarnation and death be correctly stated by the British Critic, that it should not once have been mentioned by our church, although she dwells much on the nature and purposes of these great events. In the second article it is stated, that Christ was made man and crucified, "to reconcile his father to us, and to be a sacrifice, not only for original guilt, but for actual sins of men." Surely it might have been expected, that something of the first grat purpose of our Saviour's mission would have been noticed in this place.

In the homilies, as well as in the Bible, our Saviour is distinguished, not as the restorer of the forfeited immortality of the soul, (though he is as the revealer of immortality,) but as "the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world." (p. 15. 341, &c.) See also the Liturgy passim. And at p. 345, we are distinctly told by the church what it was she considered as the end of Christ's coming. "The end of his coming," it is there said, "was to save and deliver his people, to fulfil the law for us, to bear witness unto the truth, to teach and preach the words of his Father, to give light unto the world, to call

"But was not human nature depraved and corrupted by the fall, sơ as to have been ever since 'utterly in

disposed, disabled, and made opposite to all good, and wholly and continually inclined to all evil'? So said the rebellious divines at Westminster." Vol. XXI. p. 596. (4.)

sinners to repentance, to refresh them that labour and be heavy laden, to cast out the prince of this world, to reconcile us in the body of his flesh, to dissolve the works of the devil, last of all," meaning, as I conceive, that this was the first great purpose of his coming, "to become a propitiation for our sins, aud not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world." See also p. 361.

(3.) By comparing the above extract with the homilies, p. 355, (quoted in note (1.) the reader will, at once, perceive how widely the British Critic differs from our church in the interpretation of St. Paul's meaning, Rom. v. Our reformers, it will be seen, did not think that to understand by God's wrath and damnation eternal torments was at all inconsistent with the doctrine of St. Paul in that chapter, for they adduce it in proof of our "being perpetually damned to the everlasting pains of hell-fire."

(4.) But what said the framers of our homilies? Some passages have already been produced, which serve very much to strengthen the view which the rebellious assembly of divines took of the subject. Let us hear what our church has still to say upon it. "Thus we have heard how evil we be of ourselves, how of ourselves and by ourselves, we have no goodness, help, or salvation, but contrariwise sin, damnation, and death everlasting." (p.14.) Again-"We are of ourselves very sinful, wretched, and damnable," "-" of ourselves, and by ourselves, we are not able to think a good thought, or work a good deed, so that we can find in ourselves no hope of salvation; but rather whatsoever maketh unto our destruction.” (p. 15.) "Before Christ's coming into the world all men, universally in Adam, were nothing else but a wicked and crooked generation, rotten, and corrupt trees, stony ground, full of brambles and briars, lost sheep, prodigal sons, naughty unprofitable servants, unrighteous stewards, workers of iniquity, the brood of adders, blind guides, sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death: to be short, nothing else but children of perdition and inheritors of hell

"The infant mind seems to be merely passive."-"In this state many associations, the source of future passions, are formed in it long before it acquires or can acquire the use of its reasoning and moral powers; so that every man, naturally engendered of the offspring of Adam, must, as the article teaches, be very far gone from original righteousness before he arrive at the years of discretion."-" Such, however, must have been the moral state of his descendants, though the forbidden fruit had never been tasted." Vol. XXI. p. 600. (5.)

"By original righteousness nothing can be meant but the equal balance of Adam's faculties." Vol. XXI. p. 600. "Adam, at his first creation, we believe to have been"-" fully able to perform 'civilem justitiam, et diligendas res rationi subjectus,' but an absolute stranger to spiritual things, till by the first covenant of grace he

fire." (p. 344.) From many other passages to the same purport, I shall select only one more at p. 390. "Man of his own nature is fleshly and carnal, corrupt and naught, sinful and disobedient to God, without any spark of goodness in him, without any virtuous or godly motion, only given to evil thoughts and wicked deeds." Compare these passages with the expressions which the reviewers reprobate when employed by the divines at Westminster, and they will be found to have included our church in the same condemnation.

(5.) The above passage is as dexterous a perversion of the ninth article as I have ever seen. I must beg the reader to compare them together. What, on the hypothesis of the British Critic, can be meant by the "infection of nature" in that article? and by "the first infection of our first father Adam," in the homilies? (p. 9.) At p. 41 it is asserted, that all that came of Adam "have been so blinded through original sin, that they have been ever ready to fall from God and his law." See also p. 338, already quoted in note (1.) where it is further said, "If this so great and miserably plague," (viz. everlasting death) "had only rested on Adam, who first offended, it had been so much the easier, and might the better have been borne. But it fell not only on him, but also on his posterity, and children for ever; so that the whole brood of Adam's flesh should sustain the self-same fall and punishment which their forefather, by his offence, most justly had deserved." I need take no trouble in shewing how contradictory to these views are the sentiments of the British Critic.

CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 32.

was made an heir of immortality, and 'endued,' as the church teaches, with all kind of heavenly gifts"." Vol. XXI. p 605. (6.)

"It is a matter of no importance whatever, whether a man believe the corruption of human nature to be positive or negative." Vol. XXI. p. 605. (7.)

66

'Why we should perplex ourselves about the depravity of human nature, or what good can possibly result from unfeigned sorrow, or deep anxiety, in the soul on that account, we are unable to conceive. (8.) We did not

(6.) Here again the British Critic and the homilies seem to be strangely at variIn proof of this I need only quote one passage from p 337. Man, it is there

ance.

was

said, in the beginning of the world" made according to the image and similitude of God, he was endued with all kind of heavenly gifts, he had no spot of uncleanness in him, he was sound and perfect in all parts, both outwardly and inwardly, his reason was uncorrupt, his understanding was pure and good, his will was obedient and godly, he was made altogether like unto God in righteousness and holiness, in wisdom, in truth; to be short, in all kind of perfection." Surely this is something very different from "the equal balance of Adam's faculties." I would just notice the British Critic's extraordinary perversion of the passage in the homilies which has been last quoted. The homily states Adam, when he was "created and made," to have been " endued with all kind of spiritual gifts." The reviewer asserts, that he was an absolute stranger to spiritual things at his first creation, and that it was not till after his fall that, by the covenant of grace, he was first endued with heavenly gifts. See also the first extract, note (1.), for a decisive contradiction.

(7.) So far is our church from agreeing with the British Critic in this sentiment, that the homily of the Passion opens with a direct contradiction of it. "That we may the better conceive," says our church in that homily, "the great mercy and goodness of our Saviour Christ, in suffering death universally for all men, it behoveth us to descend into the bottom of our conscience, and deeply to consider the first and principal cause wherefore he was compelled so to do. When our great grandfather Adam had broken God's commandment in eating the apple forbidden him in paradise, at the motion and suggestion of his wife, he purchased thereby, not only to himself, but also to his posterity for ever, the just wrath and indignation of God."

(8.) Let any candid man read the 3 T

tends for the apostolical constitution of the church, and considers schism as a heinous sin, as a mere formalist in religion, who, in the cant of the party,makes little use of the SAVI OUR,' and rests every thing on external profession." The main defect in this representation, as far as it respects us, is, that it is totally destitute of truth, and has not even the shadow of a foundation to stand upon. We have never employed the phrase which is attributed to us. We have never spoken of Mr. Daubeny as a mere formalist, who rests every thing on external profession; and so far have we been from regarding in that light every Anti-calvinist who contends for the constitution of the church and regards schism as a sin, that one ob ject of our work has been to defend pious men of that description from the intemperate of the opposite party. We here, therefore, formally deny the charge, and we take upon us to aver, that the British Critic cannot produce a single passage from our pages to substantiate it. He ought, therefore, from a regard to his own

character, and from a regard also to christian charity, to retract it*."

We should not have said so much on this subject but for a hope that, although the prejudices of the British Critic have led him, rather precipitately, to prefer an unfounded accusation against us, yet he will not wilfully persist in it. We trust he is not disposed, like some of his contemporaries, to set aside, in the conduct of his work, the consideration of truth and justice, and to violate the established laws of literary warfare, in order to blacken an opponent.

*The reviewer states in the same page, that many instances are produced by Mr. Daubeny, in which we are convicted of having so mutilated his words as to exhibit him teaching the contrary to what he actually taught. Now Mr. Daubeny himself only alleges one instance of the kind, and if the British Critic will read with care our volume for 1802, p. 621, he will, probably, see reason to think that, even in that Surely the British Critic does not expect instance, the charge is wholly unfounded.

to enhance his, in some respects, well earned reputation, by such misrepresenta

tious as these.

GREAT BRITAIN. DR. HOLMES, recently promoted to the Deanry of Winchester in reward of his indefatigable Biblical labours, has just published a "Statement of the Receipt and Expence for the Fourth Year since the Commencement of the Subscription to the Publication of the Septuagint Collations." The whole Book of Deuteronomy has been printed since the last account. A Preface to the Pentateuch, containing, among other things, an account of the MSS. and other Copies so far collated, has also been prepared and printed, and is now produc ed, together with the Book of Deuteronomy, completing the first volume of the work. The sum in hand for publication is £.556. 2s.; and the Subscriptions unpaid

.78. The money in hand for the Collation, which has now been engaged in sixteen years, is only £.88. 12s. 8d. The Dean, therefore, still continues his earnest application to all the friends of sacred learning for farther assistance, and engages to apply the utmost attention in his power towards forwarding the publication.

In the press, the Seventh and last Volume of the Bibliographical Dictionary.Two new editions, fine and common, of BOGUE's Essay on the New Testament, with very considerable alterations and improvements.

Some valuable MSS. of Archbishop LEIGHTON are said to have been recently discovered, viz. 1. A Commentary upon the first Nine Chapters of St. Matthew.-2. A Lecture upon the Sixth Chapter of Isaiah.

3. A Lecture upon Romans xii. 9-12.4. A Sermon preached to the Clergy, from 2 Cor. v. 20.-5. A Discourse upon the Creation, from Psalm viii. 3-9.-6. A Fragment upon the Woman of Canaan. The Archbishop is said to have left behind him also, An Exposition of the Epistle to the Ephesians, which, it is said, there is some hope of recovering. It is intended to publish a new and uniform edition of the Archbishop's Works, in six volumes octavo, one volume quarterly; in which the above pieces, and what may yet be obtained, will be included, together with his life enlarged from authentic materials.