classes. It enjoins obedience to lawful authority: 'Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers; for there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Render, therefore, to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour." In particular relations, the Bible enforces proper duties, 'Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them. Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands. Children, obey your parents. Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged. Servants, obey in all things your masters. Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal; knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven.' To the afflicted, it urges sympathy,Weep with them that weep.' Towards the prosperous, it prohibits envy,- Rejoice with them that do rejoice. In commerce, it requires,-Just balances, just weights, a just ephath, and a just hire.' In the general conduct of mankind, its language is,-' As ye would that men shold do to you, do ye also to them likewise.' Its injunctions are to put off anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, and filthy communication out of your mouth. Lye not one to another.' Under every condition of human life, it demands the exercise of the finest and most generous sentiments and feelings. Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this,-To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.' These, Sir, are some of the principles and precepts of that Book, which scepticism rejects, as incredible and therefore unfit for rational reception:What, then, is unbelief? 'tis an exploit; 'A strenuous enterprise: to gain it, man Must burst through every bar of common sense, Of common shame, magnanimously wrong. 'And what rewards the sturdy combatant? His prize repentance-infamy his crown.'

London, March 5, 1823.

I am, yours, &c.

T. W.

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REVIEWS OF THE LAST MONTH.

THE NEW EDINBURGH REVIEW notices HORNE'S Introduction to the Critical Study of the Scriptures, so often noticed in this epitome, and always with commendation. It points out some improvements, which the third edition will yet bear, but observes, 'We know not when we have examined nearly three thousand closely-printed pages, so full of important and interesting matter, and affording so little opportunity for critical animadversion.'

THE MONTHLY REVIEW notices The Sisters, No Enthusiasm, and Body and Soul, classing them under one article. Of the tenets of these religious novels, the reviewer observes, 'The author of No Enthusiasm favours Calvinism; the spokesman of The Sisters' preaches Calvinistic Orthodoxy; and the dissertator on Body and Soul' upholds Anti-Calvinistic Orthodoxy. Though the stories are not particularly well contrived, nor the incidents uncommonly well managed, and the reasonings or prosings, which are the staple, are neither very new nor very conclusive, yet in all these tales, the niceties of dress, the peculiarities of manner, and the touches of character, are sketched with a superior hand; and the humour and archness, which peer through these descriptions, might lead us to attribute their composition to that sex, whose wit and native shrewdness, and gaiété de cœur, even the discipline of austerity can never entirely extirpate. The writer of No Enthusiasm,' except in drawing the character of the attorney, and that of a plausible gentlemanly barrister, is said to be uniformly dull.' From this opinion we dissent. 'The author of the tale of The Sisters' is of a much higher cast; but the moral reflections are endless, and are often mere scraps of Dr. Johnson and Mrs. H. Moore re-cooked

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The price of Body and Soul is called a fine on the public, the observations on public amusements are said to be cleverly expressed, the poetical scraps are unequal.

THE BRITISH CRITIC reviews Dr. PHILLPOT'S Letter to Jeffery, the reputed Editor of the Edinburgh Review, on an Article entitled Durham Case-Clerical Abuses. The review opens, The libel upon the Durham Clergy has proved "the fruitful mother of a thousand more." The trials of Hone and Carlile were made the occasion and excuse for additional blasphemies, and the trial of Williams has called up one lawyer to abuse the Clergy, and another to review them. From both instances, short-sighted men infer, that the prosecutions ought not to have been instituted.' We own ourselves to be of the short-sighted number, and from this example, these editors must have long sights, indeed, if they can see any good resulting from such prosecutions.-BOWDLER's Sermons, vol 2, as far as we can judge of them from the extracts given, seem worthy of the commendations bestowed upon them by the reviewer. Whether he holds the absurd doctrine of regeneration by baptism, we cannot ascertain, as the topic is here untouched. Mr. B.'s sermons are on the Nature, Offices, and Character of Jesus Christ, and we are glad to see these reviewers saying, 'In truth, it is our anxious desire to see these lofty themes brought continually forward, and pressed upon the attention of high and low, rich and poor.' Let a man speak of the atonement as often as he will, and build upon this doctrine and exhortation to turn from sin to righteousness, and we will pledge ourselves that he will have an attentive audience. Let him speak on the same subject, and use a similar exhortation in his intercourse with his parishioners, and he will produce a beneficial effect upon their hearts and lives, far more readily than in any other way. The summary of Mr. B.'s sermons on justification will shew his clearness on this point. We are justified freely by the grace of

God as the high and sole cause; we are justified by the blood of Christ, as the price paid for our redemption; we are justified by faith as the instrument whereby we accept salvation; we are justified by good works, as the proof of our faith, and the subject of enquiry at the day of judgment.' This definition

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accords with that given by all the Evangelical body, both in and out of the establishment. In answer to the question, 'Why is faith said to justify?' Mr. B. as clearly explains his subject, For this obvious and in structive reason-that faith accepts the gift mercifully offered by God, and in so doing acknowledges that salvation is of Him alone, proceeding from his free bounty, procured by the perfect obedience and all sufficient sacrifice of his Son. The receiving it through faith, therefore, is a confession of our unworthiness and inability to procure it for ourselves; it is as though each of us should say, to the mercy of my God, and the merits of my Saviour, I look for pardon and acceptance: I adore that mighty love which hath pur chased so great salvation: defiled with sin, I seek to wash away its stains in the blood of the Lamb: I fly to God for refuge and strength, and beseech him to plant in my soul the graces of love, and hope, and filial obedience, and to make me in every thing conformed to the image of Him in whom I have believed.' 'The chief merit of these discourses,' the reviewers add, in conclusion, is that they lead the reader directly to Him, who is "the author and finisher of our faith," and they explain, with success, the doctrines of the gospel, and illustrate that union of justice and mercy, which is the striking characteristic of the dealings of God with his creatures.' 'It is,' says Mr. Bowdler, 'one of the perfections of Deity to make even those principles, which appear to be discordant, harmonize in a perfect union. It is the frailty of man, that he separates what God has joined; either magnifying divine mercy to the injury of eternal justice, or detracting from its excellence, that he may build on the false foundation of his own works. To our eyes, if we

draw our instruction from the fountain of truth, all the dispensations of God will appear tending to one great end, even our sanctification. We shall see 'Mercy and Truth meet together, Righteousness and Peace kiss each other.' 'Drop down, ye heavens from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness; let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together. Several articles, by MILLIKIN and others, on the commutation of Irish Tithes, are reviewed at some length: the reviewers think the time chosen for the discussion of the subject is improper, when all parties in Ireland are in a state of disagreement; that if any change takes place, it should begin in England, and that the reduction of exorbitant rents by the laity, should precede the touching of the Clergy. Perhaps, on calmly viewing the state of Ireland, and the vast revenues of the Irish Church, equal need for reduction will not be found in England; and with respect to the laity, begining by reducing their rents, we are of opinion that both should begin together, or by endeavouring to retain they may in the end lose every thing.

THE ECLECTIC REVIEW, in noticing GISBORNE'S Essays, speaks of him as a man of elegant mind and an excellent spirit; though it does not enter into all his views. Dr. MAGEE'S Primary Charge has some good parts in it, but is censured for reflecting on the right of private judgment, and evidently misrepresenting the independent dissenters.-MILLHOUSE'S Blossoms and Vicissitudes, two Poems, are justly commended as the productions of an ingenious and deserving man,' which though not faultless, sufficiently bespeak the writer to be a man of cultivated taste, and no mean abilities.' -SIR HENRY MONCRIFF WELLWOOD's Sermons, Vol. II. This review opens with an Extract from the Preface of the venerable Baronet: The morality of Calvinists is as much a subject of observation as of argument; and wherever the facts are dispassionately examined, is sufficient to vindicate them, not only