city for standing firm in his obedience, and acquiring whatever was essential to his happiness. With regard to what we apprehend must have been the state of the heart of an innocent and holy being, our author shall express our sentiments.

“Uprightness necessarily supposes the affection to be in a proper state; that is, regular, and set upon proper objects, all sharing the measure of regard due to them, while God occupies the supreme place, and is loved with the whole heart, and soul, and strength, and mind. This our Saviour pronounces to be the first of all duties now; and if we can suppose Adam in paradise to have failed in it, we must suppose him a sinner. This is perhaps the most important part of the present investigation, and it is certainly the easiest and most evident: for any thing irregular in the affections, without any reference to the act in which it may or may not issue, is itself declared to be sin (Matt. v. 28).

To say, therefore, that Adam's affections,

when he was in a state of innocence, were

irregular, or set upon improper objects, would be to say that God created him sinful from necessity: that he sinned before he sinned; fell before he fell; and was guilty while he was innocent." pp. 43, 44.

In this chapter our author enters into an argument respecting the exact nature of those positive arrangements which the Universal Sovereign condescended to make with his innocent creature, as a test of submission and obedience. It does not appear to us to be of essential consequence by what name those arrangements are designated. Whether they be regarded in the light of a covenant, or as an express authoritative law, it comes, in the present case, much to the same thing. "God," as Mr. Cormack elsewhere observes, "could propose nothing but what was just and proper; and Adam, yet in a state of innocence, could not for a moment withhold his assent from any thing of which these were the characters." p. 127.

After a cursory review of the terms of that transaction, the consideration of which is resumed at greater length in a subsequent part of the work, Mr. Cormack pro

ceeds, in the third chapter, to the consideration of "the Fall, the circumstances immediately connected with it, and the consequences flowing from it to the first pair." These circumstances and consequences are illustrated by an exposition of the simple narrative of Moses; from which it is clear, that our first parent, though innocent and holy, being left to the freedom of his own will, yielded to temptation, and fell from the state in which he was created, by the violation of that prohibition under which he had been placed, as a test of obedience, and thus subjected the earth to a curse for his sake; while death, as the specific penalty denounced, immediately took effect in the moral desolation to which the soul was subjected, as a certain anticipation of the separation of the soul from the body, and at last an eternal separation of the soul from God.

The next inquiry that occurs is the relation in which the posterity of Adam stand as respects the sinfulness and misery arising out of their progenitor's transgression. Here certainly begins the main difficulty of the question. We are brought to the threshold of a subject in which we can see but a very little way, and where it behoves us to feel our ground, with the utmost jealousy of attempting to be wise either above or below what is written. It has already been premised, that the ordinary analogies of nature, and daily experience and observation clearly bear upon the point as a matter of fact. In this respect, which is really the only one in which our interest is deep and permanent, our author proceeds, in the fifth chapter, to pour on his subject that flood of light with which the word of God has cleared up many of the most inexplicable phenomena of the present condition and future prospects of our fallen humanity.

By a careful examination of the remarkable passage, Rom. v. 12, it is shewn that in the great transaction in which the Almighty conde

scended to engage with the progenitor of our race, all his posterity were included. Of this we can form no other idea than that they were included in him as parts of the system of which he was the head. And it is in virtue of that connexion that we are daily called to witness the humiliating fact of the sufferings and death of those who have not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression. So reasons the Apostle, under the spirit of inspiration; and if any regard is due to his authority, nothing remains to us but a hearty acquiescence in the Divine Wisdom, and a humble acknowledgment of our own utter ignorance, weakness, and guilt.

Mr. Cormack afterwards confirms his doctrine by an examination of several other passages of Scripture. Though these are by no means necessary to render the reasoning of the Apostle (Rom. v.) more conclusive, they serve to exhibit the futility of many of those arguments by which certain self-called philosophers and divines would bear down the plainest testimonies of Infinite Wisdom itself.

That the doctrine in question could escape hostility, was not to be expected. It is and must necessarily be exceedingly offensive to the proud nature of man; and from the days of Pelagius, down to the present hour, there are multitudes who revolt at a position so subversive of every high look and lofty imagination. Though evidences of it, as a matter of incontrovertible fact, must press on their observation in the daily walks of human life, and in every page of the revealed word of God, they persist in theorising, in order to explain what can never be explained but by the sacred text, and to make the most obvious appearances of things accord with the preconceived notions of what they presume to think it is proper and fit for the Sovereign of the Universe to do with all orders of his creatures.

That any view which the human

mind can take of such a subject as this must be involved in difficulties, we have no wish to dispute. Our author himself is deeply sensible of this; but he adds, in the expressive words of St. Augustine, "Shall we deny that which is evident, because we cannot comprehend that which is hid? Shall we say, that that which we see clearly to be so, is not so because we cannot discover why it is so ?"

One of the greatest obstacles to the reception of the doctrine of original sin certainly arises from the difficulty of conceiving how it is consistent with the equity of the Divine administration, that any individual should be made in any way to suffer for an offence which is not strictly and in every respect his own. Nor is it altogether unaccountable that some persons, unable to resist the evidence of this certain fact, as it presents itself even in the ordinary experience of life, should sometimes feel the influence of a temptation to cherish unworthy conceptions of the character of the Universal Sovereign, who thus, in this life at least, often permits the innocent to suffer with the guilty. Our author indeed observes, that any conclusion which tends to impeach the justice of the Divine government is one at which Deism itself would shudder, and which can find admittance only into the cold and dark bosom of Atheism." We are afraid, however, that the resistance of the Divine Sovereignty, under the notion that we are severely dealt with, is a universal disease of our nature. From the days of Cain, down to that of a modern poetical expounder of his creed, there have not been wanting examples of the most presumptuous impiety, in throwing defiance in the face of the Eternal on account of the alleged oppression of his government. And whatever may be the state of matters in this world, we certainly can form no fitter conception of a state of unspeakable wretchedness in the world to come, than the blasphe

mies of the congregated multitudes of the condemned-condemned for their own actual, personal, and aggravated sins uniting with one heart and hand in venting their rage at the Omnipotent Sovereign as the author of their miseries.

To be rescued from any approach towards such a state of mind, and to become "reconciled unto God," through the blood of Him in whom alone we can live, as in Adam we died, should be the great business of human life. But while we conscientiously believe that no human mind can have any solid peace, till it is brought to a cordial submission to all the dispensations of God, we must at the same time protest against any attempt to give a full explanation respecting some of those points in which it is our wisdom and duty to acquiesce. There is a boundary at which the wisest and the holiest of men do well to stop in these investigations. Many eminent writers have been tempted to overstep the proper limits in attempting to solve difficulties which lie beyond the reach of man. We have ever hesitated to follow ingenious speculatists in their bold endeavours to throw light on the counsels of God, by subtile theories which are not manifestly founded either on positive fact, or

on the express testimony of Divine Revelation.

Mr. Cormack has closed his work with some useful practical observations, and has appended to it a critical dissertation on the words ALL, ALL MEN, MANY, Rom. v. 12, and 1 Cor. xv. 22.

We have no space to follow him over this field of criticism; and shall therefore only state, that as some Calvinists have explained the "all" who died in Adam, to mean the whole race of mankind, and the "all" who are made alive in Christ, to mean only "all the elect world," Mr. Cormack, who reasonably thinks that whatever meaning is attached to the word in one member of the clause, ought also to be attached to it in the other, contrives to save the Apostle's grammar, and his own Calvinism, by confining the former "all" to believers, conceiving, that, though it is perfectly true that all the world, without exception, fell in Adam, St. Paul did not here mean to make that assertion. Our own inclination certainly is to give both words their full scope; and if any difficulties seem to arise from this construction, rather to meet them on their own ground, than to obviate them by forced and unnatural versions of the sacred text.

GREAT BRITAIN. PREPARING for publication:-A Translation of Dupin's Commercial Power of England;-The System of Education at New Lanark, by R. D. Owen;-Proofs of the Truth of Christianity from the OldTestament Scriptures, and the Writings of the Cabbalists, by M. Mayers.

In the Press :-The Life of the Rev. J. Wesley, by the Rev. H. Moore;Aphorisms from Archbishop Leighton, with Notes, by S. T. Coleridge ;-Papers from Mr. Jouy's "Hermites," in French; and also, a Translation into French of Bishop Watson's Apology for the Bible; by M. Ventouilloc;- The Slave, a Poem;

Part II. of Sermons and Plans of Sermons, by the late Rev. J. Benson.

We are happy to learn that a number of gentlemen, strongly impressed with a view of the advantages likely to result from the extension of those admirable institutions, Infant Schools, have invited a general meeting for the purpose of considering the best means of extending the system. An advertisement on our cover announces that this meeting will be held at Freemasons' Hall, on the 7th of June ; and that persons desirous of previously satisfying themselves respecting the nature and advantage of the plan, may see it in

Operation at the Infant School in Quaker street, Spital Fields, or the Infant School, Vincent square, Westminster. We most earnestly recommend the subject to the attention of all our readers, especially the parochial clergy of populous towns.

The Rev. Dr. Morrison, who has lately returned from China, has brought over with him a very extensive Chinese library, consisting, it is stated, of 10,000 volumes. The principal objects of the learned collector were to make the European public acquainted with Chinese literature, and to advance, by all human means, the temporal and eternal interests of that nation.

At a recent meeting of the Antiquarian Society, a paper was read by Major Rennel, on the place of St. Paul's shipwreck. From a particular examination of the circumstances, as related in the Acts of the Apostles, Major Rennel infers that the general opinion that the Melita alluded to was Malta, is the true one; and that it was not the Dalmatian Melita, as some writers have argued.

Government have purchased, for the use of the public, Mr. Angerstein's celebrated collection of pictures, at the price of 57,000l.

We have had occasion to allude to the unprecedented overflow of students at Oxford and Cambridge, during the last few years; indeed, ever since the peace. The Scottish Universities appear to be equally full. The number of students at the King's College and Marischal College, Aberdeen, during the last session, was above 640; the number at St. Andrews, about 200; at Edinburgh, about 2100; and at Glasgow, about 1600: in all, above 4540.

The Board of Longitude have conferred the Parliamentary Premium of 5001. on Mr. Barlow, of the Royal Military Academy, for his method of correcting the local attraction of vessels. The quantities of iron employed in ships of war, produce great deviations in the compass, varying according to the direction of the ship's head. In the recent voyage of the Griper, to lat. 80 deg. north, the difference in the bearing of an object with the ship's head at east and west, amounted to 28 deg. before the vessel left the Nore: this difference afterwards amounted to 50 deg. at the North Cape, and to 75 deg. at Spitzbergen. The method recommended by Mr. Barlow was completely successful in remedying the evil. It consists merely in placing a small plate of iron near the compass, in such a situation as to counteract the effects of the ship's iron in any one place; after which, without removing it,

it continues to do the same in all parts of the world.

It appears from the returns for the year 1823, that, in the metropolis, judicial crimes have been nearly stationary for the last eight years; the number of persons committed for trial in London and Middlesex, during the year 1817, being 2686; in 1820, 2773; in 1821, 2480; and in 1823, 2503. In 1817, 13,932 persons were committed for trial in England and Wales, and in 1819, 14,254; but the number in 1823 is only 12,263.

The Hecla and Fury discovery ships have proceeded for the Polar expedition. Captain Franklin is also to proceed from Mackenzie's River, to endeavour to penetrate, in light canoes, westward to Behring's Straits. Captain Lyon will endea vour, by means also of canoes, to trace the coast from Repulse Bay to Coppermine River; while Captain Parry will again pass into Lancaster's Sound, and, in the neighbourhood of Melville Island, renew his endeavour to make a successful passage thence to Behring's Straits. Every care will be taken to prevent similar privations to those experienced by the former land expedition.

The Society for the Encouragement of Arts have awarded a premium of 10 guineas for a bonnet manufactured of English grass in imitation of Leghorn. The grasses were gathered and bleached by some children of a Sunday school, at the suggestion of their teachers, as an employment adapted to their years and calculated to contribute to the wants of their parents.

A party of sailors lately came on shore at the Land's End, for the purpose of removing from its situation the celebrated Logan, or the Logging (rocking) Stone. This mass of granite, which is nearly one hundred tons weight, was one of those objects that excited the curiosity of every visitor to the western part of Cornwall. It stood on the summit of a mass of rocks at the Land's End, and was so poised on a natural pivot, that the force which a man could exert was sufficient to cause it to vibrate. In this situation it remained from a period antecedent to our authentic historic records, as it is noticed by our earliest writers, until the barbarians abovementioned, in sheer wantonness, succeeded, after great labour and perseverance, in removing it from its place.

Among the numerous speculations to which the superabundance of capital has given rise is announced a British Association for cutting a canal across the isthmus of Darien.

SWEDEN.

There are now in Sweden sixty-seven schools on the Lancasterian plan; of which thirteen are in the capital. Twenty-two were established last year.

UNITED STATES.

The National Calendar of the United States, for 1823, contains the following paragraph relative to emigrations :-" By different vessels that arrived in our ports, in the years 1821 and 1822, were conveyed 20,201 passengers, of whom 3,969 were citizens of the United States. Of the 16,252 emigrant foreigners, 8,284 were from England; 685 were French; Germans, 486; Spaniards, 400; and Hollanders, 112."-The American list of patents for 1822, contains 194: of which eleven are for the improvement of ploughs; twenty-two for other instruments in agriculture; and fifteen for economical stoves and for ship-building. The new publications deposited in the office of the Secretary for the Interior, in the same year, are ninetyfive twenty are dictionaries, grammars, or elementary works and treatises of education, nine relate to theology and morality, fourteen to the physical and mathema

THEOLOGY.

The London Missionary Society's Report of the Proceedings against the Rev. J. Smith of Demerara, including the Documentary Evidence omitted in the Parliamentary Copy; with an Appendix, containing the Letters and Statements of Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Mrs. Elliott, Mr. Arindell, &c.

Poems on Sacred Subjects; by R. Ryan. Fcap. 8vo. 5s.

Cottage Bible and Family Expositor; with Practical Reflections and short Explanatory Notes. 8vo. Is. or on fine paper, 1s. 6d.

The Parables of our Blessed Saviour, explained, selected from the larger Commentary of Dean Stanhope; by the Rev. C. M. Mount. 12mo. 4s. 6d.

Questions on the Old and New Testament, for the use of Students in Divinity. Is. Questions on the Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England. ls.

The Obligations of Christians to promote Sabbath Schools, a Sermon; by the Rev. J. Roaf.

A Christian Father's Present to his Children; by J. A. James. 2 vols. 9s. Indexes to the Portions and Expressions in the Services of the Book of Common Prayer. 8d. stiff covers, or 6d. to bind with Prayer-books.

A Brief Memorial of Mrs. Jane Preston; by the Rev. G. Clayton.

Remarks on Dr. Henderson's Appeal

on the Subject of the Turkish Testament; by the Rev. Professor Lee. 3s. 6d.

BestIntentions, or Reflections for Youth, Maturity, and Age. 6s.

Account of the American Baptist Mission to the Burman Empire; by Mrs. Judson.

A Father's Reasons for not baptising his Children, with Remarks on Baptism.

MISCELLANEOUS.

Critical Researches in Philology and Geography. 8vo. 8s.

Part I. of Lackington and Co.'s Catalogue of Second-hand Books. 2s. 6d. Selections from Humboldt, relating to Mexico; by J. Taylor. 8vo. 12s. The Greek Revolution; by E. Blaquiere. 8vo. 12s.

The Stream of History to the year 1824. 11. 16s.

A Compendious Chart of Ancient History and Biography; by Mrs. J. Hurford. 8s. 6d.

Lectures on the Philosophy of Modern History, delivered in the University of Dublin; by George Miller, D.D. M.R.I.A. Vol. V. and VI. 8vo.

Researches in the South of Ireland; by T. C. Croker, with plates. 4to. 2. 2s. A History of Lyme-Regis (Dorset); by G. Roberts. Post 8vo. 7s.

Naval Battles, from 1744 to 1814; by. Rear-Admiral Ekins. 4to. 31. 3s. The Relapse; or True and False Morality.