times they suppose him capable of performing such good works as naturally make him inclined to embrace the gospel; at others, such as may recommend him to God; and at others, such as render him worthy of the divine favour and election: Our Church teaches, that he has no power to do what is really good; that without Christ he can do nothing in the work of his salvation; that of himself he is unable even to think a good thought; that he cannot make himself righteous eitherin the whole or in part; that he cannot even prepare himself to faith, &c; that his best natural works neither render him meet to receive grace, nor deserving of it, nor are pleasing to God, but are, in fact, them selves sins. This, then, is the agreement with our Articles, Liturgy, and Homilies, of which these Church men boast! In this manner do they teach the doctrines contained in these formularities, as they were first delivered by our Reformers! (p. 155—157.) Mr. O. concludes the Chapter by repelling the charge, that the persons whom he defends use stronger language than the Church has done upon this doctrine, and denies that such can well be found. CHAP. V. profession only; and "this distinction," he adds, "between a mere nominal, hereditary, external religion, and real, practical, internal Chritianity; between the mere form of godliness, and the pow er of it, we cannot relinquish." (p. 161.) The change, for which our Author argues, is properly represented, he remarks, by any one of the scriptural terms, repentance, conversion, renovation, spiritual resurrection, or circumcision of the heart; none of which, however, are to be considered as implying the conversion of persons, already Christians, to the profession of Christianity; but the conversion of an hereditary profession, into actual practice and experience; "and in fact," he adds, "the change effected in the views, dispositions, and pursuits of those, who from mere nominal, become real Christians, bears so strong a resemblance to that experienced by the first Christians on their conversion, as fully to justify the description of it by the same terms." (p. 162.) Mr. O. observes, however, that he is The investigation continued with respect to the not solicitous about words, but that it is doctrine of REPENTANCE. 1. MR. Overton, after remarking that according to men's ideas on the subject of depravity, will be their solicitude respecting it, and their notions of conversion from it, goes on to state his own views and those of his friends upon the subject of REPENTANCE. They consider 66 a feeling and practical conviction of human depravity as essential to Christianity This conviction, they think, "may justly excite unfeigned sorrow, and deep anxiety in the soul;" and they are also of opinion, that, " in order to salvation, a change of mind, of views and dispositions, must be effected in every person, wherever born, however educated, or of whatever conduct;" a change generally known by the name of Regeneration. To those who object that this change is effected in us at our baptism, the Author answers, that baptism rests on the same footing, in this respect, with circumcision; that good fruit cannot be produced but from a good tree; and that as the bulk of those who have been baptized, live in the habitual practice of what the word of God deems evil, they can therefore be Christians in outward the thing only, the actual reformation of the heart and character, which is to be deemed of importance; and, viewing the state of religion among us, he is anxious to guard against that abuse of the doctrine of the Establishment concerning baptism, which permits all persons in our communion, to expect the blessings of the baptismal covenant as a matter of course, whether or not in any sober sense of the words they fulfil its conditions. "The author of this happy change of character," Mr. O. adds, "we believe, is, the Holy Spirit; but, that it is generally effected, and is always to be sought after, in the diligent use of the appointed means of grace." He guards against the misrepresentations of those who would insinuate that when conversion is spoken of, "we are ranting about some instantaneous operation, which finishes the whole business of religion at once: we mean by it the serious commencement of a work, which it requires the vigorous exertions of a whole life to complete. Our opinion therefore is, that humility of mind, and seriousness of deportment, highly become the character of Christians, in their best estate." (p. 163,164.) 2. "Very different, however, are the notions of several of our Opponents. We will not affirm that they absolutely treat with ridicule every appearance of contrition for sin, or solicitude respecting the state of the soul; but they certainly approach very near such a conduct. At the most, it is only some gentle feeling of remorse, some slight degree of spiritual anxiety, which they can endure. Men may be serious, may be affected, may discover solicitude, about what other objects they please; it is not permitted here: It is knavery; it is folly; it is hypocrisy; it is insanity; where the honour of God, and the care of the soul are concerned." (p. 164.) Mr. Polwhele, the Anti-Jacobin Reviewers, Dr. Croft, Mr. Clapham, &c. are censured on this ground; and are accused of giving a distorted view of the sentiments of those persons whom they oppose; such a view, likewise, as is utterly inconsistent with their representations, at other times, of the flattering nature of the doctrines of their adversaries. Several of these authors are quoted, as wholly denying the necessity of any radical change in the present day; as referring to baptism, whatever radical and internal change may be allowed to be necessary; and as meaning no more by repentance, than outward reformation; or at most, some very par tial change of character; or if more is allowed to be requisite, it is only for the more abandoned part of mankind. "However indulgent," Dr. Carr says, (Serm. L. p. 112.) "the Saviour of the world may be to accidental failures of infirmities, or passion....if we have fallen into adultery, theft, murder, &c. our repentance must closely follow." (p.171.) 3. In contrasting with these notions, the sentiments of the Church upon the point in question, Mr. O. shews, from the Liturgy and Homilies, that she considers repentance to be necessary for every person in her communion, who has arrived at years of discretion; and that she could not possibly be more explicit than she is, in declaring against the substitution of any merely outward or partial change for true repentance; teaching, as she does, that it extends to the " very bottom of the heart," and that penitents "must be clean altered, and changed," and "must become new creatures." He further states, that she ascribes this work entirely to the Holy Ghost, and on this point quotes a strong passage from Lord Bacon, (p. 171174.) He then illustrates, by further extracts, her views of the necessity of contrition and solicitude of mind, as accompanying this change; and, having given a specimen of the penitentiai language of our leading Martyrs, in a passage quoted from John Bradford, thus concludes : I again appeal to every competent and unprejudiced judge, to say, which party teaches most like the Church of England, on this subject; ; we, who allow men to be serious in this ed to slight, and even to ridicule real solicitude, most serious cause; or they, who are so disposabout the spiritual state: we, who urge the necessity of a practical, radical, and general change of character; or they, who rest so much upon hereditary distinctions, and external reformation, and, at the most, require only some very partial amelioration of heart and principles: we, who ascribe true conversion to God, to the agency of the Divine Spirit; or they, who consider it a work which is easy and natural" to man? (p. 177.) (To be continued.) 66 X. The Anticalvinist; or Two plain Discourses on Redemption and Faith. By ROBERT FELLOWES, M.A. of St. Mary Hall, Oxford; Curate of Harbury; and Author of a Picture of Christian Philosophy, &c. &c. Second edition, with additions. 8vo. 28 pp., Price Is. or 10s. a dozen. THE title of this pamphlet, led us to expect from it, an exposure and refu tation of those opinions, which form the distinguishing features of the Calvinistic system. But in this expectation we have been disappointed. The attack here made, is not on the doctrines held by Calvinists exclusively, but on those which we have been in the habit of regarding, as the prominent and distinctive marks of the Creed of the Church of England; nay, as forming the essence of Christianity itself. Had Mr. F. confined his animadversions to those less essential points, which give to the Calvinistic creed its peculiar character; and had he, at the same time, conducted the discussion in the spirit of Christian charity and forbearance, we should have thought him by no means liable to reprehension on that account. But having directly impugned some of those doctrines, which are the most unequivocally specified in the Liturgy and Confessional of that Church, of which he is not only a member but a minister; and having left others equally important entirely out of his system, we deem it our duty to give to his work a greater share of our attention than its size may seem to claim. In the Preface, Mr. F. advances a number of strong, but vague and gene. ral charges, against "many of those who falsely assume the title of Evangelical Preachers." These persons, he states, "either from stubborn ignorance, or perfidious wickedness, are, at this moment, busily employed, in sapping the strong foundations of morality;" and in decrying" the importance, and invalidating the necessity, of a loyal submission to the moral government of the Gospel." (p. iii.) The real object of Mr. F's attack, would appear from these, and such like extracts, to be the Antinomian heresy. That this heresy has a considerable existence in the kingdom, we are not disposed to deny; and so sensible are we of its pernicious and anti-christian tendency, that we should rejoice to see the pen of some able Divine pointed against. it, with discrimination and effect. A rash, incautious, or unskilful hand, how ever, while Antinomianism is the professed object of his hostility, may strike, as Mr. F. has done, a deadly blow at the root of all evangelical obedience. Mr. Fellowes, it is moreover to be observed, is far too loose and declamatory, and dwells too much in generalities, even if his method of treating the subject were unexceptionable in other respects, to convince those, whose minds may be tainted with the subtle and delusive errors of Antinomianism: but he will be still less likely to produce any effect, when to declamation, he adds invective; and when, by a very superficial eye, errors, which are radical, and perhaps no less destructive, than those he opposes, may be discovered in his own views of Christianity. We conclude from the title of the pamphlet, that Mr. F. meant to convey to his readers, the idea, that the Calvi nists, as a body, were justly chargeable with those Antinomian notions, which he reprobates; but may it not be questioned, whether this be indeed a wellgrounded representation? Whatever objections might be urged against certain Calvinistic sentiments, it surely cannot with truth be alleged generally of those who hold them, that they are employed "in sapping the foundations of morality;" or that they "decry the importance and invalidate the necessity of a loyal submission to the moral government of the Gospel." The Institutes of Calvin himself, and the Westminster Catechism, would disprove this charge; although both these works are certainly far more Calvinistic, if we may be allowed to use such an expression, than the generality of modern Calvinists. May we not also call in the aid of experience, and refer to Scotland, where the above-named Catechism forms the common ground-work of religious instruction, as a proof, that the Calvinistic creed, whatever errors some persons may attribute to it, is not chargeable with producing all that relaxation of the ties of moral obligation, which Mr. F. would maintain it does? The pamphlet consists of two Sermons, the first of which is from 1 John ii. 2. He is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. The Author's declared object in it is, briefly and plainly to explain the extent and nature of our redemption; the benefits of which he states to be universally extended, and not confined to "a few chosen individuals.*" (p. 9, 10.) After maintaining that the death of Christ will be the means of blessedness to none who do not perform the conditions of faith, repentance, and sincere obedience, which are required of them, (p. 10), he explains the nature of the Christian Covenant to be, that (p. 11.) "Christ by his death hath prevailed on his Father to grant to mankind a dispensation of mercy; promising par * Whatever may be the opinions of men on this subject, or on the true meaning of the to be treated with levity. It is a scriptural term Elect, we think the word itself ought not expression, and one, as Mr. F must know, which is frequently used by our Church. don on the conditions of their faith, their repentance, and their obedience, or continuance in well-doing." Mr. F. Chen gives it as his opinion, that the consequence of Adam's disobedience was the forfeiture to himself and his descendants of the privilege of immortality; and that this sentence of mortality, or, as he explains it, this total extinction of being, which awaited all men at the close of life, was repealed by the death of Christ. And this deliverance from a state of annihilation at death, he states also to belong only to those who observe the statutes of Christ's kingdom. The disobedient, he farther observes, are threatened, by Christ, with destruction; which, according to Mr. F. signifies merely the total extinction of being, at the close of this mortal life. (p. 11.) To prove that we have not misrepresented the sentiments of Mr. F. on the important points of the real nature, extent, and effects of the fall of Adam, we shall quote the following passage Though Christ both practised, taught, and enjoined the purest morality, and though we are desired to "be holy, as he which hath called us is holy," (1 Pet. i. 15) yet there are many persons, either through "pleasure in unrighteousness," (2 Thess. ii. 12.) or wrought on by "strong delusion, that they should believe a lie," (2 Thess. ii. 11.) who pretend that the sin of Adam Irath so thoroughly tainted, and so radically depraved human nature, that man is from his birth, addicted to wickedness, and incapable of goodness.-But the Scrip tures, when they are truly expounded, never teach, and our Saviour himself, in all his discourses, never published this loathsome and pernicious doctrine. The sin of Adam did not vitiate the nature of mankind. The punishment inflicted on Adam for his transgression, was death, and temporal misery. His posterity, therefore, are born to mortality and to suffer ing; but they are not born either in guilt or in wickedness. They are not born disposed to evil and indisposed to good. They are born innocent; and this was certainly the opinion of our Saviour, or he would not otherwise have declared of little children, that of such is the kingdom of God. He would not have said this, if they had been born in guilt and wickedness; for guilt and wickedness can have no admission into heaven. Little children are born innocent, and ripe for heaven; and the fall cannot, consequently, haze so vitiated the nature of man, as to have communicated to it an unnatural propensity to moral evil, and an utter loathing of moral good. (p. 15.) With this view of the subject, we need not wonder that Mr. F. should have pronounced the Gospel to be "nothing more than a rule of life;" (p. 12.) and that the death of Christ has only procured deliverance from annihilation, for those who obey its precepts. (p. 11.) Mr. Fellowes no where asserts, that the death of Christ is followed by any other blessings, than those which have been already enumerated; and he endeavours to prevent the notice of this omission, by inveighing strongly against all (p 12 who regard the death of Christ, as having annulled the necessity of moral observances. We, in common with Mr F., regard such an opinion as deserving the utmost abhorrence; and we scruple not to say, that whoever considers the death of Christ as having invalidated the importance, or superseded the practice of a single moral duty; (p. 12.) whoever imagines that our Redeemer hath "left him nothing to do, but only to live as he pleases;" or represents him as delivering us "from the necessity of moral virtue," (p. 14) entertain's irrational, and unscriptural notions, blasphemes the Gospel of his God and Saviour, and will find himself "miserably and fatally deluded, when the Son of Man shall again appear, coming in the clouds of Heaven; when the books shall be opened, and judgment shall be administered according unto righteousness." (p. 14.) So far we agree with Mr. F. But be cause we condemn the errors of those who abuse the essential doctrines of the Gospel, shall we, therefore, abandon them? God forbid! (To be continued.) XI. Practical Sermons, by the late Rev. JOSEPH MILNER, M. A. Master of the Grammar School, and Vicar of the Holy Trinity Church, in Kingston upon Hull. To which is prefixed, an Account of the Life and Character of the Author. Second edition, revised and corrected. By the Rev. ISAAC MILNER, D D. Dean of Carlisle, and Master of Queen's College, Cambridge. Large Additions are made to the Life of the Author, with further Animadversions on Dr HAWEIS's Misrepresentations, and Two Sermons not before published. 8vo. pp. cxxxvi. and 355, boards, 6s. 1801. AMIDST the grievious departure from the faith, and the disposition to receive This will constitute their excellence in the eyes of those who think that the proper use of a sermon is not to display the learning and eloquence of the preacher, or to excite the admiration of the hearer, but for instruction, popular instruction in righteousness; and that one of the proofs which our Saviour gives of his own mission, "unto the poor the Gospel is preached," will always mark the ministration of a true teacher. One thing, however, is certain, that when we see a man who is qualified to shine as a scholar, and to cultivate with success those parts of literature which are connected with worldly honour and emolument, condescend to men of low estate, and preach the Gospel to the poor, we can have little doubt of his Christian sincerity. Mr. Milner's intellectual powers were certainly of a superior kind, and his learning unquestionable; nor was he without ambition after literary fame; but all was sacrificed for the sake of Christ. He "preached not himself, but Christ Jesus the Lord.” In all his labours and writings, we perceive an uniform desire to extend the kingdom of our Redeemer in the hearts of men. The Sermons are twenty-three in number but none of them, it appears, were composed or prepared by their Author for publication. We find that he left a discretionary power, in his will, with two of his most intimate friends, to publish any of his Sermons that they might think adapted to promote the cause of true religion and virtue, and that these were selected from the large mass of eight or nine hundred which he left behind him. The following Table will give the reader a view of the Contents of the volume. CONTENTS. Life of the Author, (p. 1.)— SERM. I. orginal sin, Gen. viii. 21 (p. 1.)SERM II. The church of God confessing her guilt and depravity, Isaiah Ixiv. 6, 7. (p. 15)—SERM II Jesus Christ, an unspeakable gift, 2 Corinthians, ix. 15. (p. 29.) -SERM. ÏV. The nature of faith, Heb. xi. 1. (p. 47 )—SERM. V. The case of Pharaoh, a warning to stubborn sinners, Exodus, x. 3. (p 63.)-SERM. VI. Lowliness recommended from the example of Christ, Philip. ii. 3, 4, 5. (p. 76.)-SEKM. VII. Jacob blessing the sons of Joseph, Gen. xlviii. 15, 16. (p. 90.)-SERM VIII. The duty and uses of religious fasting, Joel ii. 22. (p. 104.) -SERM. IX. The communion office of the church of England considered, 1 Cor. x. 16, 17. (p. 117)-SERM X. The character and prayer of Samson, Judges xv. 18. (p. 133.) SERM. XI. The nature and cure of slothfulness, Prov. xv. 19 (p. 151.)-SERM. XII. The character and conduct of Josiah, 2 Kings xxii. 19. (p. 163.)-SERM. XIII. Love of the brethren, an evidence of a state of salvation, 1 John iii. 14 (p. 178.)—SERM. XIV. The doctrine of Providence, Mat. x, 29, 30 (p. 192)—SERM. XV. Family instruction, recommended from the example of Abraham, Genesis xviii. 19. (p. 209.)— SERM. XVI. The life of faith, Habakkuk i. 3, 4. (p 225.)-SERM. XVII. The character of Saul, 1 Samuel xv. 30. (p. 238.)SERM. XVIII. The character and faith of David, 1 Samuel xxx 6. (p. 253.)—SERM. XIX St Paul's experience in the school of Christ Philip.iii. 12. (p. 267.)-SERM. XX. The song of Simeon, Luke ii. 26. (p. 283.) -SERM. XXI. The portion of the men of the world, and the hope of the Godly, Psalm xvii 14, 15. (p. 297 )-SERM. XXII. The brazen serpent, John iii. 14, 15. (p. 312.)-SERM. XXIII. St. Peter's courage, and his want of faith. Matthew xiv. 28. (p. 335.) In the life of the Author, prefixed to this volume of Sermons, (p. 1x.) an apology is made for the defects which |