their forces to demolish the citadel of truth, and banish the atonement of the sacred oracles from the church of God. Thousands, by an easy transition, have gone over to the camp of deism. Indeed the objections urged by deists against the bible, from the time of Celsus, to the days of Thomas Paine, are the same that errorists and heretics urge against the doctrine of the atonement; the degradation of human nature, the merciless character of God, and the injustice of his plans.

We pass over numerous other sects, which have infested the church in Britain, all of which attack, in some manner, the doctrine of the atonement, and multitudes of which swarm in the bosom of the established church.

It is consolatory to the friends of truth, that notwithstanding these errors, the cause of true religion has not been altogether abandoned in the established church of England. There have always been able, learned and pious men, within it, who have raised their voices in vindication of the true Christian system, and in opposition to the errors, which have been overrunning it. Mr. Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments, is a work which has been highly useful to all Christians into whose hands it has fallen, and all orthodox divines have drawn largely upon it, for aid in their pulpit exhibitions. It possesses a fund of valuable remark and practical deduction from the source of divine truth, which have rendered it savory to all the pious. The views which Mr. Henry entertains of truth are altogether Calvinistic. Like the scriptures on which he comments, he exhibits God as merciful in consistency with justice, and man as a fallen, impotent creature, whose sole dependence for future blessedness must rest upon the unmerited goodness of God, as this has been revealed through the atoning sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ.

In perfect accordance with Henry, are the commentaries of Mr. Burkitt, a highly valuable exposition of the New Testament, which abounds with evangelical and Calvinistic sentiments. These with the work of Mr. Henry, may be considered as an antidote against the Armi

nian commentaries of Dr. Clarke, whose work, while it contains much curious matter and learned research, is encumbered with no small portion of literary lumber, and pedantry; and is, upon the whole, a special pleading for the tenets of the Arminian school. Whenever an opportunity offers, and even when none is offered, the annotator attacks, with great asperity, the Calvinistic system, of which he evidently possesses but an imperfect knowledge. He also passes over many portions of Scripture, which are richly stored with evangelical truth in a very superficial manner, and scarcely ever unlocks the treasures of gospel truth. The work is better calculated to gratify a vain curiosity, than to feed the soul of a Christian, with the bread of life which cometh down from heaven.

Ridley, Latimer, Jewell, Reynolds and Wilkins, have distinguished themselves, in vindicating ably, many points of the Calvinistic creed, against the attacks of errorists and heretics. The Rev. Dr. John Pye Smith, has published a small work, containing some very judicious remarks on Dr. Priestley's heresies, and detecting many misrepresentations, in his works, especially in his History of Early Opinions.

No one has distinguished himself more as a scholar, and a critic, than the Rev. Dr. Magee, of Dublin College, in a late work on the atonement. We rejoice to hear the voice of Ireland raised in favour of the truth. We might have presented from Dr. Magee's work many specimens of the heresies of Priestley and his coadjutors in the business of tearing down the glorious fabric of divine truth, erected in the eternal councils of Jehovah, and exhibited in the scriptures. He has ably combated Taylor, Geddes, Lindsey, Belsham, Priestley, and the whole host of heretics; he has encountered them single-handed and completely vanquished them. He has also exposed the errors of many of the divines of the church of England who were tenacious friends of the doctrine of atonement, but who have erred on some minor points; such as Warburton, who, in his Divine Legation of Moses, main

tains that the Jewish sacrifices did not originate from divine appointment, but from heathen superstitions, and were enjoined upon the Jews merely from a compliance with heathenish customs and attachments. The fallacy of this hypothesis is placed in a clear light by Dr. Magee, who has proved incontrovertibly their divine origin. The great object of Dr. Magee's book is to establish the doctrine of substitution-that Christ Jesus was substituted in the room of sinners, and suffered that punishment which sinners would otherwise have endured in their own persons. This grand point he has settled by an extensive review of the Jewish ritual, particularly of the sacrifices under the law, and of the practice of the whole heathen world; as well as by sacred criticism on those portions of both the old and new Testament, in which the atonement is directly taught. He enters the field of criticism, and attacks the adversaries on their own ground, and with the weapons which they profess to wield. This work should have been laid under heavier contribution for this sketch, were it not that we hope every person, who wishes to be thoroughly acquainted with this. all important subject, will read the book itself. He will receive the most ample testimony in favour of the truth of the atonement, acquire an extensive knowledge of the heresies in Britain, which relate to it, and discern the present state of the controversy. Still Dr. Magee has not touched the subject of the extent of the atonement. But let it be established, (and he has established it,) that Christ was substituted in the room of sinners and paid to divine justice the debt which they owed, and the conclusion is irresistible that all for whom he was thus substituted, must be saved: otherwise God would be unjust in demanding a double payment for the same debt. He has proved the foundation of the Calvinistic system, to be established on a basis, which cannot be shaken.

There is perhaps no work, since the days of the reformers, that exhibits so much of the patient research and learning of those times as Dr. Magee's. The only point on which he seems not to have very clear ideas relates to the efficacy of

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the Jewish sacrifices. He seems to admit that, in themselves, they possessed a certain degree of efficacy, in purging away some crimes committed against the Jewish polity, while the truth is, their whole import, their whole value, consisted in their being types of the great atonement offered up by Jesus on the cross. They were merely "shadows of good things to come, but not the very image of them," as the apostle Paul expresses it.

There are many denominations of dissenters, who embrace the Calvinistic creed, in Scotland, England and Ireland. The Presbyterians of Ireland would deserve to be mentioned, but the synod of Ulster, by which name their supreme judicatory is known, contains so many members, both among the clergy and laity, who have swerved from the truth, that the general assembly of the church of Scotland have passed an act refusing to admit them to communion with them, or to officiate in their congregations, unless they will undergo an examination as to their orthodoxy. The errors of which the Scottish church is afraid relate chiefly to Socinianism. What proportion of them have fallen into this slough of despair for sinners is not known, but it is great, and their ecclesiastical discipline is very much relaxed. Their state in relation to both practice and doctrine, is probably not better than that of the established church. The act of the Scottish judicatory is highly creditable to them, and indicates that their condition, which had greatly deteriorated, is now improving, while that of the Irish Presbyterians is growing worse. Many of the clergy indeed are said to be grossly immoral.

The Anabaptists arose in Germany in the time of the reformation by Luther. They refused subjection to any government, committed the grossest outrages against all the decorums of human society, and were led by illiterate enthusiasts, who excited them to the commission of the greatest crimes. The tenet by which they were distinguished from all other Christians was, that children should not be baptized, and that those who in infancy had received that ordinance should be immersed. When their fury had exhausted

itself they gradually formed themselves into a regular and orderly society, and adopted the independent form of church government. Their creed is generally Calvinistic, and they differed from the other Calvinistic churches, on no other sub jects than those of infant baptism and ecclesiastical government. The society in England has become large, intelligent and respectable. One of its most distinguished writers is Dr. Gill, who wrote a commentary on the scriptures. He abounds with sound and truly evangelical views of the doctrines of grace, but he is a loose writer, whose sentences are frequently without end. He wrote a system of theology, which is rather an English compend of Turrettin, than an original work. On the doctrines of grace, he follows Turrettin, except on the doctrine of justification, which, while he maintains that it is solely founded upon the righteousness of Christ, he asserts is from eternity, and that the justification, which takes place in time on the day of believing, is merely a manifestation of that which took place in eternity. His reasoning on this subject, though plausible, is altogether loose and declamatory. He seems not to distinguish between a determination to justify, and the actual performance of the predestinated act. Booth's Reign of Grace is preferable to any of his writings; but still his system forms the text book for nearly all the students of theology in connection with the regular Baptists. There are numerous sects, who agree with the regular Baptists on the subject of infant baptism, but are not in communion with them. The greater part of these are known by the general appellation of irregular Baptists, and are of the Arminian school. Their clergy are generally illiterate and many of their people unenlightened. The regular Baptists have distinguished themselves by their zealous and laudable efforts for evangelizing the heathen. The great missionary station at Serampore, so well known to the Christian world, and the numerous dependencies upon it, were formed under the direction of the Baptist society. Though it is a subject of no little regret that the children of the heathen converts, made through the liberal and persevering exertions of these people, are not taken