The Eclectic Review

in the sight of Heaven, has embraced on her false and foul bosom, worthies, in whom the apostolic age might have gloried.

How

Is it not then a culpable delusion which would impel any party to resent suppositions of the kind now in hand, merely because piety, fervent, pure, and zealous, is seen to be flourishing among us? much of that piety does the world know any thing of? The world enters not our closets: knows nothing of our hearts; and knows but little, even of the exterior behaviour of the obscure thousands who most adorn their profession. But it sees, and knows, and ruminates upon, our visible disagreements :-it measures our alienations ;-listens to the din when angry spirits wake the winds of strife; and, in a word, discerns whatever is discreditable;-is uninformed of, or incompetent to appreciate, whatever is true and good.

Who can say what might now have been the religious condition of England if our several dissident communities had, a century ago, calmly and wisely returned to the path which their freedom from political control left open to them-which the plain rule of the New Testament points out; and which common sense so distinctly approves ? Almost confidently it may be affirmed, that an unbroken harmony among its opponents, must have compelled, or would have induced, the Established Church, both to revise its forms and constitutions; and to rescind its ill-omened demand of an unconditional and universal approval of the same, as the term of communion. And then, on the other side, how must such a proof of the vigour and glory of the Gospel have affected the minds of the mass of the people! Our faith in Christianity altogether is put in jeopardy, if we hesitate to believe that a Harmonious Church-freed from all secular hostility, or restraint,—would fail to spread itself rapidly, and to prevail.'

pp. 95-97.

We know not whether these extracts will be the best fitted to recommend the volume to our readers. In these bold remarks, the Author may, perhaps, have put in jeopardy his whole reputation in certain quarters: and offended Prejudice may attempt to push aside the truth, by proudly questioning the credentials of the Writer. We know not whence he is', was given as a reason by the Pharisees for rejecting THE TRUTH. If the Author is ambitious of personal distinction, he will avow his name. his object be usefulness, he is wise to preserve the incognito. The public have not yet arrived at that stage of mental illumination or independence, in which the lawyer may safely lay aside his official disguise, the judge his robe, the preacher his gown and bands;—all expedients for concealing the familiar personality of the individual who ventures to instruct, or is appointed to preside over others, and to place him for the time on an artificial elevation, in which his natural dimensions and lineaments are less distinctly discerned, and the man is merged in the office he sustains, so as to be, as it were, for the time anonymous. The best

apology that can be made for anonymous criticism is, that, although the privilege of thin disguise is liable to gross abuse, it is so indispensable to any thing like independence of thought, and impartiality of judgement, that, upon the whole, the interests of literature require that the Reviewer should, even if well known, be unknown,—disguised, not for the baser purposes of concealment, but for the better and more decorous discharge of an invidious duty. The Author of the volume before us, who may be regarded as polyonomous, rather than anonymous, so many names has conjecture fastened upon him, would infallibly be divested -not of one atom of his intrinsic claims to deference and admiration, but-of a portion of his efficiency as a public teacher, nay, perhaps, of his simplicity of feeling and unembarrassed singleness of purpose, were he to be forcibly stripped of his gown, and the cut and colour of his cloth to be submitted to curious inspection. He can now be claimed by no party: then, nolens volens, he must have a badge and cockade forced upon him,—he must be a partisan, Churchman or Dissenter, malgré soi. He does wisely, then, to shut himself up in the retreat from the loopholes of which he looks out upon the busy pageant of the world.

But then philosophers, it is urged, are often children in practical affairs they cannot understand the world from which they keep aloof. Hence, the chimerical nature of their wisest schemes, the impracticability of many of their most specious recommendations and proposals. And thus, because a Writer discovers some deficiency of technical knowledge in reference to the smaller wheels of the social machinery, some want of official accuracy,-because his large calculations take no account of the fractions,--because his views are those of the statesman, rather than of the politician, -he shall be set down as a mere theorist or well-meaning visionary, whose profoundest suggestions are of no practical utility. And yet, the slightest imaginable correction,-the alteration of a figure of the smallest arithmetical power,-shall rectify the whole statement which is cavilled at, and make it practically applicable, as it is abstractedly true. This is the manner in which the present Writer's appeal to the Christian public, in the New Model for Christian Missions' was treated by many. Unfortunately, a definite scheme was roughly sketched out, not as a serious proposal, but as an illustration of the principle of the Model recommended: this was at once, by the practical men, pronounced impracticable, and the whole Model was set aside, though framed on the soundest principles, because the subordinate details of the specimen elevation displeased the eye.

The Introductory Essay to Edwards on the Will, has established the Author's claims to rank among the most accomplished metaphysical writers of the present day; but it was of a character

to add to his permanent reputation, more than to his popularity. The present volume is in some respects adapted to be the most popular of his productions, as it is certainly the most powerful. The style, sometimes encumbered with the weight of the thoughts, and bearing, in its elaboration, the marks of slow and condensed meditation, at other times kindles into the most vehement and lofty eloquence. The paper on The Means of Mercy' is one of the most finely sustained argumentative appeals, in illustration of the Divine scheme of Justification, that we have ever seen. We might specify other papers scarcely less striking. Upon the whole, the volume cannot fail to make a very powerful impression, and it cannot be more favourably received than it deserves to be.

ART. VII. LITERARY INTELLIGENCE.

In the press, a small Tract in 18mo, by Joseph John Gurney of Norwich, entitled, "Hints on the portable Evidences of Christianity", being that evidence of the Truth which every man carries about with him who reads his Bible and compares its contents with his own experience.

The Rev. William Jay will publish in a few days, his Sermon on "The Transitory Character of God's Temporal Blessings, considered and improved", occasioned by the sudden death of Mrs. Charles Taylor.

In a few days will be published, The History, Institutions, and Tendencies of the Church of England, examined by Scriptural Authority: -being a Reply to a letter of Vice Admiral Stirling. By T. Schofield, Minister of Chertsey Chapel, Surrey.

Preparing for immediate publication, a Pictorial, Geographical, Chronological, and Historical Chart; being a Delineation of the Rise and Progress of the Evangelical or Christian Dispensation, from the birth of John the Baptist to the Ascension of Jesus Christ; shewing the situation of every place mentioned in the Gospels, with representations of the journeys of Our Lord and of the principal events in His Life ;-drawn on the places of their occurrence, from designs of the Old Masters; having near 200 vignettes in the body, and 42 subjects in the margin. Size 43 in. by 3 in. Engraved by A. W. Warren, in the best of outline; and about six hundred references. The whole arranged, by permission, according to the "Harmonia Evangelica" of the Rev. Edward Greswell, B.D. Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, by Mr. R. Mimpriss.

apology that can be made for anonymous criticism is, that, although the privilege of thin disguise is liable to gross abuse, it is so indispensable to any thing like independence of thought, and impartiality of judgement, that, upon the whole, the interests of literature require that the Reviewer should, even if well known, be unknown,-disguised, not for the baser purposes of concealment, but for the better and more decorous discharge of an invidious duty. The Author of the volume before us, who may be regarded as polyonomous, rather than anonymous, so many names has conjecture fastened upon him,—would infallibly be divested -not of one atom of his intrinsic claims to deference and admiration, but-of a portion of his efficiency as a public teacher, nay, perhaps, of his simplicity of feeling and unembarrassed singleness of purpose, were he to be forcibly stripped of his gown, and the cut and colour of his cloth to be submitted to curious inspection. He can now be claimed by no party: then, nolens volens, he must have a badge and cockade forced upon him, he must be a partisan, Churchman or Dissenter, malgré soi. He does wisely, then, to shut himself up in the retreat from the loopholes of which he looks out upon the busy pageant of the world.

But then philosophers, it is urged, are often children in practical affairs they cannot understand the world from which they keep aloof. Hence, the chimerical nature of their wisest schemes, the impracticability of many of their most specious recommendations and proposals. And thus, because a Writer discovers some deficiency of technical knowledge in reference to the smaller wheels of the social machinery, some want of official accuracy, because his large calculations take no account of the fractions,-because his views are those of the statesman, rather than of the politician, -he shall be set down as a mere theorist or well-meaning visionary, whose profoundest suggestions are of no practical utility. And yet, the slightest imaginable correction,-the alteration of a figure of the smallest arithmetical power,-shall rectify the whole statement which is cavilled at, and make it practically applicable, as it is abstractedly true. This is the manner in which the present Writer's appeal to the Christian public, in the New Model 'for Christian Missions' was treated by many. Unfortunately, a definite scheme was roughly sketched out, not as a serious proposal, but as an illustration of the principle of the Model recommended this was at once, by the practical men, pronounced impracticable, and the whole Model was set aside, though framed on the soundest principles, because the subordinate details of the specimen elevation displeased the eye.

The Introductory Essay to Edwards on the Will, has established the Author's claims to rank among the most accomplished metaphysical writers of the present day; but it was of a character

ART. VII. LITERARY INTELLIGENCE.

The Rev. William Jay will publish in a few days, his Sermon on "The Transitory Character of God's Temporal Blessings, considered and improved", occasioned by the sudden death of Mrs. Charles Taylor.

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