display of power. It is the exercise of movements without endangering its exthe will of a perfect Being, whose na-istence. And the gates of the moral world need not be closed against the perfection of its Author, its Sovereign, and its Judge.

We shall terminate our remarks on divine sovereignty, by a quotation on the subject, from the work before us; in the reasoning of which we cordially concur. And if it shall appear to have a neutralizing influence on the doctrine which has called forth our animadversions, we shall not be suspected of liking it the less on that account. What would the chemist do with his acids if he had no alkalis? The passage occurs in the chapter entitled "the particularity of redemption," and the argument runs thus:

ture is love, and who delights in open ing channels for his own beneficence: not less just, than it is irresistible; not more absolute than it is holy. Whether, as some maintain, there is no other origin of right but the divine will, becanse of its holiness; or according to others, there are distinct laws of right, founded in the very nature and constitution of things, to which the will of a perfectly holy Being is necessarily confined; or in other words, whether the divine Being wills things because they are right, or they are right because he wills them; are questions of a highly speculative character, as unprofitable to the heart, as they are perplexing to the intellect. But without ascending The ways of providence exhibit as dethus high in the region of metaphysics, cisive marks of special favour, added in we may remark, that if equity and sove- sovereignty to universal kindness, as those reignty are not identical, they are eter- of redemption; nor can any other reason be nally coincident. If we regard sove-given why all men are not equally rich and reignty and rectitude as distinct attri- happy. Can the same system be both right and wrong? Or, if wrong in spiritual conbutes of the divine nature, we must cerns, how right in temporals? If it were never contemplate them as opposed, or objected that the parallel is incomplete, inas having even a contrary tendency, inasmuch as the inequality of providential any department of the divine opera-bounty is only temporal and probationary, tions. Like the light as it emanates from the sun; when philosophically in spected, its rays may exhibit different colours, but they are always pure in their essence and parallel in their movements. The power of choosing what he will do, and of doing what he may choose, we apprehend is necessary to constitute a moral and accountable agent; but it matters little, whether we view this power, in relation to the broad principles of abstract justice; or in reference to the divine will, where those laws are embodied and whence this blessing emanates. Free agency is not less a divine gift, than the intellectual powers, and moral endowments with which it is associated. Assuredly therefore, we need feel no apprehension that he who conferred this boon on a selected portion of his creatures for a specific purpose, should ever defeat that purpose by interfering with its exercise. The sovereignty which bestowed it may be safely entrusted to preside over its

and eternal, we should answer by admitting the premises, and denying the conclusion. It is true that the everlasting and unchangeable results of our state of discipline, attach to it a character in some respects peculiar and unspeakably solemn; but it is not true, that this circumstance destroys the completeness of the parallel which has been drawn in the point in which it bears on the subject. The matter to be illustrated, is the principle on which both systems manifestly and alike proceed, namely, an intended fits. This may be more or less interesting, unequal distribution of unclaimable beneaccording to the magnitude of the benefits conferred, but it is difficult to perceive how it can be more or less right. Other things remaining the same, it is inconceivable how a mere variation in the amount bestowed in different instances, should turn wrong into right, or right into wrong. Right and wrong are not matters of magnitude; but are dependent on the relation of things."

while that under consideration is ultimate

"Let us only imagine how his conduct would appear, if he were to act upon this assumption, and, with reference to ultimate good, to abandon the system of unequal distribution. To say nothing of the exclusion of his sovereignty, the ground, how

ever, on which it is to be demonstrated, that all the glory of eternal good is due to himself alone, what a reflection would thus be cast upon all the other parts of his ways! In every thing else he has shown himself a Sovereign; here he hesitates to do so. He has been acting in lesser matters, on a principle which he cannot carry into great ones. He has been dispensing the benefits of time in a method so questionable, so little worthy of himself, that he adopts a new one the moment those are to be distributed which pertain to eternity. So to change his system with respect to the fature, could scarcely be less than to condemn the past. But such a state of things is surely inconceivable. Nothing can be equal to his name, but to act throughout on a principle one and uniform; to adopt methods in time which are worthy of immortality, and in which the brightest light of eternity shall discover nothing but the excellency and glory of the "only wise God."

"There is a fallacy in the very attempt to distinguish between temporal and eternal benefits. To whatever extent such a distinction may appear to exist, it is certain that all the ways of God towards men, have relation to a future world. All the circumstances of time transmit influences into eternity, and they are designed to do so. Now as they thus affect our final condition, even temporal benefits partake of an ultimate and eternal character; and it can be no more proper to bestow unequal favours which influence what is unchangeable, than unchangeable things themselves. So that, if it be indefensible to adopt an unequal distribution of spiritual benefits, it is equally so to allow inequality in reference to providential good, since neither can be separated from the awful future to which mortality is

destined."

ligent creation; in preference to those which are generally adopted, and applicable to himself alone.

The fall of man is another of those sublime mysteries to which our attention is directed in the work before us, in treating of which Mr. H. makes many just and sensible observations. His remarks upon the whole, however, indicate that his views on this subject are unsteady and indeterminate. Our limits will not allow us to verify this opinion by a minute analysis. One or two short extracts we think will suffice to justify it. That the consequences of Adam's transgression were entailed upon his children, Mr. H. does not hesitate to affirm. "To concern ourselves "with matter of fact, it is certain that all the evils denounced after the fall, do come upon the whole race of mankind; namely, labour and sorrow, pain and death." That these consequences were primitive, with regard to the primogenitors of the human family, cannot be doubted; to admit it involves no difficulty. The question is, do these evils sustain the same penal character, in reference to their posterity? Our author's statements, as bearing on this enquiry, appear to us to be running counter to each other. page 118, he thus writes

first," he says,

In

Although the covenant of Eden was made with our first parents for themselves and their posterity, the divine displeasure on account of their eating the forbidden fruit, actually fell on themselves alone; so wrath of God. Irrespectively of any act that their posterity are not born under the of theirs, the new dispensation has the effect of preventing the consequences of that covenant from reaching them in their penal

at all, it must be in consequence of their if therefore it is further appropriate to them becoming actual transgressors."

That part of the present volume which is appropriated to the “consideration of the character, and the works of God," appears to us the most imperfect and superficial. The author's notice of the divine attributes in general is contract-character, and the wrath of God entirely : ed and meagre. Instead of omniscience we have knowledge, instead of omnipotence we have power, instead of sovereignty we have volition; and pursuing the same principle, instead of eternity, we might have had daration ; and expansion for immensity. We see not why he should have chosen to designate the attributes of an infinite Being, by terms of reduced and measured import, universally applied to his intel

In page 91 we find the same writer maintaining the following sentiments.

"It is undeniable, that the consequences of Adam's sin fall upon the whole race of tion of all, and even the innocent do not esmankind. Suffering and death are the porcape, since the babe weeps and expires. Nor is it only suffering and death which are thus entailed; every man enters the world

by those specimens of Mr. H.'s reasoning on this subject, which we had marked for quotation.

The principle which our author aims to establish is, "That free agency is as truly a property of our nature in its corruption, as it was in its purity." "If by the fall," he observes,

"Man has suffered a moral mischief, it

does not follow, nor does it appear, that his mental constitution has been broken up, or that any change has arisen in the structure and operation of his active powers. If his actions are worse, it is still by the same apparatus that they are performed."

with a depraved nature, a fact of which, if it be necessary, proof may be given hereafter. What account is to be given of these things? These are of the nature of penal evils, having come into existence only as the punishment of sin, however subsequently modified by a new system of operations; but upon what principle is punishment inflicted upon those who have no share in the offence? It may be retorted, that those who suffer, have in fact, no share in the offence; but it is equally certain that they must be considered as implicated parties, or else the Judge of all the earth, who judgeth righteous judgment, would not have treated them as such. Nor is there any difficulty in the case, upon the supposition, that the covenant made with Adam, was made with him on behalf of his posterity. The goodness, fallen state, mankind are adequate and pro"It appears, therefore, that in their equity, or wisdom of such an arrangement, may be disputed; all that is necessary for per subjects of divine government; and our present purpose is, that such a consti- that, when they are required to love him tation, supposing it to be consistent with with all their heart, the command is as equitthe divine character, and really to exist, able, in reference to their power, as it obwould satisfactorily account for the univer-viously is with regard to God's desert." sal spread of penal evil. It is indeed the only way of doing so. Either, in violation of all intelligible principles of equity, God is punishing the innocent, or in the covenant entered into with Adam, such relation was contemplated between him and his posterity, as rendered them liable to the consequences

of his crime. And this conclusion which results from a view of facts, is inevitably involved in many parts of sacred writ, while in others it is directly asserted."

Whether these passages ought to be entitled Howard against Hinton; or Hinton against Howard, it is no part of our business to determine. But certainly we are officially authorized to declare, that both ought not to have proceeded from the same pen, and then have been bound up together in a work entitled, "an attempt towards a consistent view of the whole counsel of God."

Notwithstanding the exceptions which our critical duty has compelled us to make against some of the statements of the present volume, the leading design of it, which we apprehend is to maintain the free agency of man, in opposition to those systems which deny, or those modes of representing divine truth, which virtually undermine it, meets with our most cordial acquiescence. And we regret that our limits will not allow us to gratify our readers

That the wicked will do wickedly, may be the effect of laws as certain in their results, as those by which a stone falls to the earth, or water finds its level, or which determine the ebbing and flowing of the tide. But though the laws of the moral world may be as certain in their results as those of the physical, they are by no means the same in their mode of operation. Their bearing on the respective agents is widely different. And this every man feels, the moment he descends from the mystical heights of metaphysical speculation into the regions of common sense, and practical life. Apart from religious controversy, such a thing was never heard of, as that the depravity of a man's heart, affords any justification of the moral obliquity of his actions. Avarice is no apology for the crime of theft; or malevolence for that of murder. The cans, and the cannots of theological spectators amount to nothing. It is not the impossibility, abstractedly considered, but the source of it which must determine, how far it can be admitted as an extenuating plea. If a man fails in the performance of a duty, either through bodily infirmity, or mental aberration, or any similar cause, that which accounts for his fai lure, at the same time excuses it. But

Now the individual introduced into the above illustration is not a supposititious character; and unhappily, not a solitary one.

he who neglects to do what is right never occurred in the history of judicial from aversion to it; and does what is proceedings. wrong from a love of it, instead of being exonerated from the charge which takes cognizance of the overt action, he becomes amenable to a second, directed against the disposition which induces the unhappy preference. A man's inclinations will necessarily determine the course of his actions; but his inclinations are not the standard of his duty; or the measure of his obligation to perform it.

acquires all the force of a moral impossibility? Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also, said the Prophet, do good, who are accustomed to do evil. Having, said St. Peter, eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin.

Thousands are thus daily employed in forging their own fetters, surrendering themselves over to those licentious habits, from whose fatal influence they will eventually be unable to effect their deliverance. We are aware, that as the cause is progressive in these The direct tendency of vicious habits, cases, so also must be the effect. But it is a melancholy fact, is to increase it is a question of awful import-Is the difficulty of regaining the path of there not an ulterior point in this prosobriety and virtue. But is the obliga-gression, at which the enfranchisement tion to return thither, at all diminished of the Spirit from its evil habitudes, by the increased difficulty of returning? If so, then the graduated scale, which should mark the degrees of moral delinquency in such cases, would bear an Inverse ratio to those of moral obligation, the latter descending exactly in proportion as the former rises. And hence, evil men and seducers who wax worse and worse, would be advancing, by a mysterious process, truly to that acme of depravity, where the vilest of actions would lose their moral turpitude; and the most abandoned of criminals be secure from crimination. It is manifest that the administration of human laws acknowledges no such principles. Juvenile depredators are sometimes regarded as objects of judicial clemency, because their habits being less fixed, and their minds less callous, their recovery to virtue is proportionably more hopeful, But was it ever known that an individual convicted under a criminal indictment, was recommended by a jury to the mercy of the Judge, on the ground that he was an old, and an obstinate offender? -that his depravity was so deep, and his evil habits so inveterate, that the man was no longer master of his actions, but lay under a moral necessity to work wickedness, and bring forth mischief? Was justice ever urged on grounds like these to remit its penalties; and compromise its claims? We will venture to affirm that such a thing

That no man can return to God, in the exercise of spiritual affections, and in acts of pious duty, without divine assistance, is unquestionably a scriptural doctrine; but we wish to ask, is this impossibility, arising, as it does from the innate depravity of the beart, at all different from the impossibility, which is superinduced by habit, on those who have long wandered from the paths of morality, and the sober decencies of life? Is not the inability, or the impossibility, in both cases the same? And do not the Scriptures employ terms as unqualified, and images as bold, to denote the one as the other? We merely suggest these enquiries to to those whom they may concern, but must not pursue this discussion.

No errors in doctrine can be wider of the truth, than those, whose direct tendency is to relax the bonds of moral obligation. "If, in the scheme of doctrine we have embraced," Mr. Hall, with his accustomed eloquence, observes,-"we suspect there is something incompatible with the use of scriptural admonitions, we may be assured, either that the doctrine itself is false,

or that our inference from it is errone- | force of mechanical pressure. And in

ous, since no speculative tenets in religion can be indubitably certain, as the universality of the moral government of God."

truth we are not without apprehension in the present instance, that the texture of the article will be somewhat injured by this condensing process.

Our author's style of thinking is manly and independent; his observations are usually acute and discriminative: and the whole of his work is indicative of a mind capable of vigorous efforts, and accustomed to construct its thoughts into a chain of philosophical induction.

A Treatise upon Latin Composition, exhibiting a Clear Method of Writing and Speaking the Latin Language with Classical Elegance. By L. EDWARD PEITHMAN, A.M. Longman and Co. pp. 185.

The antinomian dogma, and every approach towards it, by which men endeavour to break away from the preceptive parts of religion; and to shake off their obligations to personal duty, we have long considered, as the most monstrous, and the most mischievous heresy that has ever infected Christian churches. On this account we cordially hail the present work, regarding its reasonings, for the most part at least, as a well-directed blow, aimed at the root of so deadly a delusion. Its tendency in this respect is good, and the author is entitled to our praise. At the same time with this sincere com- IT is obvious that the present generamendation, we would connect a caution tion cannot learn Latin as the Romans no less friendly to the writer, to beware did, for there is no spot on the face of of the antipodes of that system. Ex- the globe where Latin words can be pressing our advice in nautical language, learned in infancy and childhood as we we should bid him keep a sharp look-learn English words. Hence arises the out in the adverse points of the compass, lest, in his laudable anxiety to steer his theological bark clear of this formidable rock, she should be stranded on the opposite shore.

necessity of employing, as an auxiliary, some other language previously known; and thus, whilst the Romans acquired Latin by the accumulation of single ideas, we must necessarily learn that ancient language by associating its expressions with corresponding expressions. Nor can the first Latin scholar of the present age ever write with the advantages of the celebrated writers of the Augustan age; for there was in their capacious minds an immense treasure of Latin, to which we are debarred all access. Even in written language they read much that has not been trans

The volume is an elaborate compendium of the writer's theological system, sensible, methodical, and argumentative. Mr. H. is not one of the many who seem to think, that the point of excellence in authorship consists in spreading the smaller portion of intellectual amalgam over the largest possible surface. On the contrary, we can assure our readers that here they will find no diffuseness, no wire-draw-mitted to us, and in that boundless ing. Instead of two or three drops of water being raised by artificial heat into a volume of steam: his condenser has reduced the steam into water. Or, to express our ideas more accurately, we should say, that the topics which are severally introduced to our notice, remind us of certain bulky articles of merchandize, wrought into bales for the convenience of exportation; whose elasticity has been overcome, and their bulkiness diminished by the extreme

ocean of oral language which evaporates when a language becomes dead, those ancient writers had an incommunicable resource, so ample that any attempt to write on a new subject in their style, must of necessity fall short of what they themselves would have written.

If, then, some of the ancient fountains are dried up, let us drink more copiously from the pure streams that still flow. If the tongues that once uttered the melodious accents of collo