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free from faults. And thus we conclude all men to be under sin.

2. The second article in the system of redemption, is the common maxim of retributive justice, viz. that crime deserves chastisement. Hence it is inferred, that man being sinful is liable to punishment. And that in this inference there is nothing repugnant to human reason, we may learn by making an appeal to human apprehensions, or to human practice.

That human apprehensions are in proof of this persuasion concerning man's being liable to condign punishment on account of sin, we may learn from observing those stings of conscience and compunctions of remorse which follow the commission of a criminal deed. The man may elude the eye of notice, and thence go "unwhipped of public justice:" but he cannot evade his own reflections, and in them he suffers immediate torment. Thus every moral transgressor, whom habitual sin hath not made callous to the impressions of conscience, bears witness in his heart to the truth of the assertion, that punishment is a consequence inseparable from guilt. Then, again, in man not absolutely savage, there has commonly prevailed a strong foreboding of a recompence to be assigned him in a future state, according to his good or evil deeds in the period of his present existence. In such presentiment is an implied testimony to the truth of the general persuasion, that sooner or later demerit should experience its proper

retribution.

There never was an instance of civil polity, in which it was not an essential principle, and the very foundation on which the existence of the community depended, that transgressors of law should be amenable to justice. The rigour of that justice might, indeed, be softened

with atrocity? What is the occasion which has required there should be enacted so many laws, denouncing punishment on enormous offenders? And how has it happened, that in open defiance of all prohibition, there have yet been transgressors whom nothing could check, but the final execution of vindictive justice? All these circumstances, it must be confessed, bear unequivocal testimony to the very humiliating, but yet indisputable truth," that the nature of man is morally corrupt, and "thence against that law of perfect rectitude, commits "those offences which constitute sin."

If it were asked, what is meant by the law of perfect rectitude, the transgression of which we denominate sin? the answer would vary according to the different condition of the party respecting which the enquiry is made. To a heathen, the law of perfect rectitude would be the most correct idea of what is strictly right and proper, which the human mind by cultivation and improvement is in itself capable of forming. But to one born in a Christian country, and enabled to imbibe pure Christian principles, the law of perfect rectitude is that law of religious and moral duties prescribed in the Gospel. From what we can discover of human nature, either by investigating man's history in a state of heathenism, or by observing his actions under the better light of Christianity, the result will be the same. Bring him to the test, either of what is called his natural law, or what we term revealed law of perfect rectitude, and in either case, without violation of truth or deviation from candour, we may venture to affirm of every human being existing, that he is more or less a transgressor of that law; or, in other words, he is more or less guilty of sin. It is accordingly acknowledged by the best masters in moral science, that as there never was a human work, so there never was a human being entirely

free from faults. And thus we conclude all men to be under sin.

2. The second article in the system of redemption, is the common maxim of retributive justice, viz. that crime deserves chastisement. Hence it is inferred, that man being sinful is liable to punishment. And that in this inference there is nothing repugnant to human reason, we may learn by making an appeal to human apprehensions, or to human practice.

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That human apprehensions are in proof of this persuasion concerning man's being liable to condign punishment on account of sin, we may learn from observing those stings of conscience and compunctions of remorse which follow the commission of a criminal deed. The man may elude the eye of notice, and thence go unwhipped of public justice:" but he cannot evade his own reflections, and in them he suffers immediate torment. Thus every moral transgressor, whom habitual sin hath not made callous to the impressions of conscience, bears witness in his heart to the truth of the assertion, that punishment is a consequence inseparable from guilt. Then, again, in man not absolutely savage, there has commonly prevailed a strong foreboding of a recompence to be assigned him in a future state, according to his good or evil deeds in the period of his present existence. In such presentiment is an implied testimony to the truth of the general persuasion, that sooner or later demerit should experience its proper retribution.

There never was an instance of civil polity, in which it was not an essential principle, and the very foundation on which the existence of the community depended, that transgressors of law should be amenable to justice. The rigour of that justice might, indeed, be softened

his "Travels in North America," Captain Hall notices the prevalence of Unitarianism in that country. In the edition of 1829, p. 119., the author speaks thus of that doctrine :

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"Unitarianism, as I heard it laid down at Boston, and I "am acquainted with it in no other shape, may, I conceive, be fairly called, without any thing disrespectful, the democracy "of religion; for while it affects to teach men to cherish en"tire mental independence, it disentangles them totally from "that allegiance and reliance on the merits of their Saviour, "which revelation inculcates on the minds of all those who be"lieve in His Divinity, as the surest, indeed the only solid "ground-work of their hope; whereas the doctrines referred "to above, send us back to a vicious circle of unsubstantial "reasonings, to the shallow fountains of our own unassisted thoughts for what certainly cannot be found there.”

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P. 372. Church of Sardis.] Rev. iii. 2.

P. 373. Impressions made.] A very ingenious and entertaining dialogue, written after the manner of those, which we find in the works of Plato and Cicero, introduces Mr. Locke as urging cogent reasons against sending our young Englishmen into foreign countries, with the mistaken view of completing their education. Under the character and in the objections of that philosopher, the author of the dialogue delivers his own rightly conceived opinions.

See "Moral and Political Dialogues," by the Rev. Dr. (afterwards Bishop) Hurd. Ed. 1771. vol. iii.

"In

In p. 76. is this remark :-" In general the man depends "entirely on the boy; and he is, all his life long, what the im"pressions he received in his early years have made him.”

Subjoined is this passage from the IxsTides of Euripides; 'Α δ' αν μάθοι τις, ταυτα σώζεσθαι φιλεῖ προς γήρας.

"Quæ verò didicit aliquis in pueritiâ, ea servare solet ad "senectam." Markland, Ed. 1775. Vers. 916.

In p. 170. of the Dialogue is proposed this question:"Would you train up your son in a way that is likely to "indispose him, right or wrong, to the institutions of his "own country?”

P. 374. Tract.] It was anonymous; but known to have been written by the Rev. Mr. Charles Blackstone, rector of Widley, Hants. The title was, "Serious Considerations on "the Signature of Testimonials for Holy Orders."

On the occasion to which this work refers, particularly deserving of attention is this advice, "Qualem commendes, "etiam atque etiam aspice." Hor. 1. L. Ep. 18. 76. P. 377. Writer.] Gibbon.

Ibid. Ephesian converts.]

ix. 19.

Acts of the holy Apostles,

P. 379. Sir Isaac Newton and Mr. Locke.] Boyle, Addison, Johnson, Beattie, Lord Littleton, West, Reid, Sir William Jones, all laymen, were firm believers in the truth of Christianity.

Ibid. belong essentially and exclusively to mind.] In his Παρασκευη Ευαγγελικη, Eusebius introduces a considerable portion of what Plotinus urged against the stoical doctrine, which ascribed to the body faculties of the mind. Plotinus says thus:

Αγνοούσι (i. e. the Stoics) ότι το Νοεῖν, Αισθανεσθαι, Λογιζε σθαι, Επιθυμεῖν, Επιμελεῖσθαι εμφρόνως και καλως ἁπαντα, Αλλην Ourian Zytes, of which three last words VIGERUS gives this interpretation: "Aliam omnino quàm corporis essentiam requirunt." Editio Nova, 1688, p. 832. C.

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P. 380. justly be ascribed.] See Reid on the "Intellectual "Powers of Man." p. 13. Ed. 1785.

Ibid. De Augmentis.] See Lord Bacon's Works, Fol. Ed. 1730. "De Augmentis Scientiarum," vol. i. p. 30.

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P. 381. propagation of Infidelity.] "Wonderful was the assiduity with which the philosophers of France laboured, in "their grand performance, the Encyclopédie,' for the "subversion of revealed religion; mathematics, astronomy, "natural history, all were brought forward with a view to "efface the proofs of revelation, or to discredit its doctrines. "The researches into these departments of science, being made "under the bias of scepticism, or absolute unbelief as to all "religious subjects, and with a view to undermine the found"ations of Christianity, produced deplorable effects, even

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