The Ten Commandments illustrated and enforced on Christian Principles. By W. H. Stowell. 8vo. pp. 290. 8s.- Holdsworth, 1824. THERE are two classes of subjects on which it is of the highest importance to possess accurate and scriptural conceptions. The one respects the character of God, and the other the responsibility of man. Right views of the former are essential to our devotion, our spirituality, and all our sentiments and affections in reference to the object of worship, the ground of hope, and the source of happiness. Right views of the latter are requisite to our sense of obligation, our consciousness of guilt, our application for mercy, and our moral state and character in the sight of God ånd man. On both topics, with all the interesting principles mutually involved in them, the sacred volume gives us ample information; but its instructions are on no subject more clear and explicit, more uniform and impressive, than on the nature and consequences of that relation in which we stand to God as rational and accountable agents. On a just view of the principles and consequences of this relation, depends a proper estimate of the plans of divine sovereignty in the salvation of men. No one can understand the nature, or appreeiate the value of a remedy, until he know the symptoms, operations, and danger of the disease, which it is designed to prevent or counteract. No one can estimate the benefits of an act of pardon who perceives not the extent and criminality of the offence. Grace supposes guilt, or liability to punishment; guilt supposes sin, of which it is the conséquence; sin supposes a law, of which it is the violation; and a law is a rule of action, enjoined by a being who possesses a right to establish and appoint the rule, and can enforce it by appropriate and equitable sanctions. Hence arises the necessity of a right knowledge of the law, in order to an adequate perception of the evil and consequences of sin, and a cordial reception of the "glorious gospel" in all its rich provisions and gracious discoveries. The first principles of Christian theology, and the primary elements of Christian. experience are alike involved in these essential convictions; and without their salutary operation, dangerous error, either in positive misconceptions, or radical deficiencies, will pervade the system of our religious belief, and affect the complexion of our religious character. On these grounds we are disposed to receive with peculiar satisfaction a judicious attempt to explain the requisitions of the decalogue, on principles which exhibit its perfect accordance with the discoveries of evangelical truth, Few subjects have been more exposed to confused and bewildering statements than what is usually called the moral law. Its obligations, as a system of requirements, have been confounded with its peculiar uses, in the primeval condition of our nature, when obedience was made the meritorious condition of eternal life. It is true that man's apostacy has subjected him to its penal sanction, and reduced him to a state of hopelessness as it respects obtaining acceptance and restoration to the divine favour" by the law;" for how can that law which condemns the sinner justify him? But though we are no longer instructed to "seek after righteousness" by the merit of our own obedience, but to rely exclusively on the righteousness which is without the law," this state of favour does not in the slightest degree diminish or relax the obligations of the decalogue. Its moral precepts remain unaltered; their perfection renders them immutable; in all the practical in junctions of the apostles, even in connexion with the most explicit reasonings on the doctrine of justification, we find the clearest recognition of the law, as still maintaining its sacred and unchanging authority, and as deriving additional motives to its observance from "the grace which bringeth salvation." Yet how many in this age of pretension and dogmatism, calling themselves "gospel preachers," are found denying and even deriding the obligations of the law, under the pretext of magnifying the doctrines of grace! Much of this awful perversion of the gospel may be traced to the confounding of the law as a rule, with the stipulations and conditions of what is generally termed the covenant of works; and also to the neglect of the important distinction between moral requisition and positive institutions. The ritual system established under the Mosaic economy is often termed "the law;" and the local and temporary constitution, established among the Is. raelites, is sometimes termed the "old covenant." This constitution is frequently confounded with the supposed "covenant of works" made with Adam before his fall; and the terms of comparative depreciation applied to the Mosaic code, in consequence of its abrogation, and the establishment of a new and better ceremony are applied to those moral principles, which, with deference, be it said, God himself cannot repeal! "Do we make void the law through faith? God forbid! yea, we establish the law." The volume before us is the first publication to which we have seen the name of its respected author affixed; and it is well calculated to excite the gratifying hope that we shall derive future and still more important benefit from his productions. His style of thinking is marked by vigour and compre hensiveness; his diction is eminently lucid and felicitous; and his arguments and illustrations are distinguished by logical arrangement, and a highly commendable degree of condensation. The principles of Mr. Stowell are decisively and consistently evangelical; and he appears uniformly impressed with the value and importance of declaring the whole counsel of God." We have seldom perused a volume more happily pervaded by a tone of serious and impressive appeal to the conscience and the heart; and while the uses of the law for the purposes of direction and conviction are fearlessly stated, the glorious provisions and allsufficient consolations of the gospel are faithfully and affectionately presented. The order established in "two tables of the law" is of course followed by Mr. Stowell in the arrangement of his lectures, with the addition of an appropriate introductory discourse, and a powerful and impassioned address at the close of the volume. In the lecture on the first commandment, we think some remarks might, with advantage, have been introduced on the history of the decalogue, with a view to the elucidation of its divine origin. Of that origin there are strong internal evidences in its perfection and comprehensiveness, especially when contrasted with the thick darkness that brooded over all the surrounding nations, when this sacred code was promulgated. But the external attestations of its divinity are marked by a combination of most remarkable facts, directly establishing the authority of the Jewish lawgiver, and proving that the Mosaic institutes were of supernatural origin. Should another edition of this valuable work be published, we would advise some consideration of this interesting subject; and, in addition to this, we would recommend a brief view of the nature of that par ticular constitution which is usually termed "the Sinai covenant. While stating these desiderata, we think it proper to advert to the unusual style of appealing to the reader," in a course of lectures represented as delivered to a congregation; and of which mode of publication we are continually reminded by the fervid and rather too frequent interrogatories which are scattered throughout the volume. But this affects not the sterling excellencies of the work. From every lecture it would be easy to extract passages of great force and discrimination as to the argument, and distinguished by a superior order of simple and commanding eloquence. When each discourse is so faithful and impressive, and the whole volume is so fully entitled to our commendation, we feel it difficult to make a selection. The following passages afford an interesting specimen of luminous and energetic statement, and show how the author has faithfully applied the requirements of that 66 commandment which is exceeding broad." "These are practices and themes which it becomes not saints to name,' and of which they would be ashamed to speak ;' -practices which admit no colouring of excuse, and are, therefore, never to be mentioned but with the severest reprobation ;-themes which are ever accompanied in Scripture by the most fearful prospects of futurity, and to be introduced only under the impressions of such prospects, and for purposes connected with them. "How criminal must a large proportion of what is enjoyed as witty, or vivacious, or clever in conversation appear, when compared with the chasteness of discourse the delicacy of communication required in these inspired commandments! 66 Closely allied to conversation are books, exhibitions, the gaieties of amusement, and the dissipations of pleasure. "The kind of literature from which the minds of our youth receive the views and impulses by which the bias and complexion of their future proceedings are in a great degree deterinined, is, in general, such as to excite the deepest alarm.— - It will be easily perceived that it is no part of our present purpose to proscribe the regions of literature from the Christian reader to introduce any thing like Vandalism into the precepts of religion. There are productions in the fields of polite literature poisonous in their nature, however beautiful their flowering, however luscious their taste. Of their pernicious effects it would be as cruel as it is wicked, not to state the truth. But, when we refer to the general tendencies of works of fancy, we mean to assert, that if the mind of the reader be not fortified by previous habits of discriminative thinking-if what he reads be not brought to the test of truth and principle-if the enchantment be not counteracted by the reflections of a steady judgment, and by the decisions of a fixed and scriptural morality-his mind and conscience will be defiled;' the melancholy truth will betray itself in the irreligiousness of his character, and the consequent misery of his doom.”—pp. 192— 195. "It may excite surprise with some, that we conclude, under the general class of polluting amusements, the gaieties of the assembly and the ball. of any amusement; but, by laying open "Our object is not to magnify the evil the feelings which these amusements gratify, to trace them to their source. "Little acquaintance with the spirit of the world is needed for the conviction, that the chief attraction of the amusements, in which dancing forms a part, arising from their calling forth those emo tions which the Seventh Commandment requires to be controlled. With mere bodily exercise, apart from the moral dispositions it may awaken or express, we have no quarrel; nor have we with grace of movement and elegance of gesture, Whatever strictures we may offer, it may farther be remarked, are not intended to apply exclusively to any class of society. It is known that the amusement now adverted to is common to all nations, and that in the licentious rites of many ancient and modern superstitions it has formed a part of religious worship. It is an amusement which brings together the young and giddy of either sex, in the lowest and rudest, as well as in the highest and most polished spheres of life. Now, we leave it for experience to decide, whether the amusement, in whatever circles it prevails, and by what circumstances soever it may be associated, is friendly or hostile to the purity of the youthful mind. There is language in looks and in gestures, in motion and in dress;-and we ask, if the feelings which all their eloquence reveals in the ball room, and which its very atmosphere, and scenery, and blandishments, and every accompaniment, have a tendency to excite; are feelings approved or condemned by this commandment ? "The general precepts, Love not the world, nor the things that are in the world'' walk not as other Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind,' are enough to deter a Christian from all participation in amusements of this nature; and for his peculiarity in this respect, he can furnish in his principles, as a disciple of the New Testament, a sufficient reason. For every one of these precepts, there is ample ground in the tendencies of the practices condemned, as well as in the authority that condemns them ;-nor have we any hesitation in affirming of the fashionable amusements on which we have ventured to animadvert, that their tendency is to encourage, to strengthen, and to gratify, those dispositions which it is the entire business of religion to subdue, by renewing us in the spirit of our mind."" pp. 197-199. We recommend these observations to the careful attention of those Christian professors who are disposed to forget the spirit of the gospel as well as the requisitions of the law. On every commandment explained in this volume, we meet with faithful and admonitory application to existing vices in the world, and prevailing evils in the church; while the exhibitions of evangelical truth are judiciously stated, and its holy principles are clearly unfolded. In closing this notice of the first production of a young minister, we cannot let the opportunity pass by, without recording our unqualified approbation of the plan of bringing before congregations courses of expository lectures, either on connected subjects of Christian theology, or upon separate portions of the sacred volume. Such methods of pastoral instruction will be found the most effectual method of building up believers on their most holy faith," and secure the best counteraction of all the diversified errors in principle, and inconsistencies in practice which deform and disgrace the Christian world. Most cordially do we commend this instructive volume to all who desire to understand "the law," and to have their faith confirmed by the Christian principles which illustrate and enforce its sacred and immutable requisitions. " History of the Commonwealth of England. From its Commencement, to the Restoration of Charles the Second. Vol. I. Containing the Civil War. By William Godwin.-Colburn. IT is a reflection scarcely to be avoided in the review of the era of the Civil War of England, that both monarchy and episcopacy must have done much, to render themselves odious, not merely in the eyes of the great body of the population, but to a full proportion of the sober, learned, and influential men of the kingdom. Such a convulsion could not have been felt through all the extremities of the body politic and ecclesiastic, without some violent and deeply seated disease. It is as childish as it is dishonest, for modern historians, essayists, and reviewers to pretend to convince the world that the subversion of these two long established and deep-rooted systems was planned by folly, and effected by a combination of weakness and vice. To deny that the monarchy was subverting liberty, and that episcopacy was rapidly assimilating to popery, is to deny the plainest facts of history, and to belie the virtue and patriotism of a host of the greatest statesmen, the most splendid geniuses, anp the best Christians that this or any other nation ever produced. Yet, as if all records of former days were blotted out, and no vestiges remained to tell us what heads had planned, and what hands executed those extraordinary revolutions, it has become fashionable, in all modish and popular publications, to represent the era of the civil war as the reign of fanaticism, and the leaders and principal actors in the whole series of changes in Church and State, as little better than the ferocious savages who figured in the Thuilleries during the age of Gallican terror. So common has it become, within the last twenty years, to paint the features of the English Commonwealth Reformers as pre-eminently savage-Vandalish-and weak, that it is an effort of no common resolution and courage to attempt to produce a modification of the public feeling. And yet it is not that that feeling is built on the solid foundation of a clear, full, and impartial history of the period. It is not usual for a fallen party to receive justice, and it is usual with all men to attribute the overthrow of great enterprises, either to the folly and weakness of the agents, or to the injustice of their undertaking and the judgments of heaven. Every kind of means, except the only lawful ones, have been employed to sink the reputation and blacken the design of the commonwealth-men, The facility with which every thing tending to their reproach, and the utter extinction of their cause, was received at the Restoration, the authority into which the most absurd, false, and partial statements were raised, in fact, the eagerness with which the truth was obliterated, obscured, or denied, have been the means by which some well-meaning moderns have been misled, and by which many malignant enemies of liberty and toleration have been assisted to maintain their favourite and gainful systems. We have long since expressed our opinion that the history of the Commonwealth has never yet been adequately written; that neither the men, their measures, their principles, nor the character of the age itself, has met with justice. The great authority, Lord Clarendon, on whose principles many succeeding historians have been induced to confide, through the splendor of his talents, we have long been persuaded would one day be proved to have written both unjustly, because partially, and inadequately, because ignorantly, of many of the principal transactions and actors. Yet he is uniformly upheld by the highparty-men as an unimpeached and able expositor of that signal age. We are thoroughly convinced now of what we have long partly believed; Mr. Godwin has convicted him both of ignorance and dishonesty; and we do hope the period is not distant when there will be found reason and justice enough in England to vindicate a race of the finest spirits that ever breathed its atmosphere, from the opprobrious charges and sweeping sentences under which they yet labour. Several valuable efforts, previous to this of Mr. Godwin, have been made to throw light on facts and persons, and to sift to the bottom those heaps of criminations which have accumulated with ages. And whatever may be the opinions of Englishmen some hundred years hence upon Episcopacy in the church, and the monarchical form of civil government, certainly it will be admitted that the British nation never at one time enjoyed so large a share of intellectual excellence, of transcendent genius, of political and juridical wisdom, and of genuine piety, as in that age so scornfully denominated the age of puritanism and rebellion. Upon the excellent volume before us it is not our intention to enlarge. It is, as far as we have been able to examine it, most exactly the desideratum which has long been felt in English history. It appears to be written with a rigid determination to abide by the strict facts, and to sift carefully all the vague and general statements of preceding historians. We have been particularly delighted with observing in this work a much more sparing use of those gratuitous explanations, conjectures, philosophizings, and sagacious developments, of which modern historians, after the fashion of Hume, have become so fond; as if they had lived in the |