incapacity. A verdict is thus passed against human nature, on a mere survey of its worst side, while no notice is taken of the good in its composition: though the actual state and character of our nature ought to be considered, and the good as well as the bad be put into the scale. Now, with all our evil propensities and vicious pursuits,

There is a natural love of justice and of truth, in our minds, which is never extinguished, unless by an education positively bad, or acquired habits of atrocious vice. There is a susceptibility of generous impressions and noble resolutions, frail and fleeting, perhaps, if not instantly furnished with objects and means of gratifi cation, but not more so than some of the violent passions, which also subside and evaporate, if not immediately supplied with opportunities of action. There are natural tempers, also, of the most amiable and benevolent kind, which preserve a steady and happy influence over some people all their lives, and make them a blessing to themselves and all around them.

It is of no consequence to the present argument, what opinion we may have concerning the comparative value of such natural qualities, or concerning their influence on our final salvation. It is the fact of their existence alone, with which we have to do; and this being admitted, (for who can deny it?) the assertion" that our nature is corrupted to the very core, and has no virtuous tendencies in it," is false."

We are persuaded that the doctrine of the total depravity of human nature is deemed, by many persons, a very comfortable mode of reconciling vice to their own consciences as a fault more or less unavoidable; especially since this degrading or exonerating doctrine is always coupled with another, which opens a fund whence the bankrupt-moralist pays full twenty shillings in the pound for every bill presented against him by Divine justice. God cannot expect any great matters from creatures depraved even to the very core: but, if he should, the Saviour becomes an all-sufficient substitute. Thus the issue is secured at all events, and they may safely speak of their own righteousness as filthy rags. Yet a strange inconsistency appears in the low estimate of the powers of the creature, and in the high demands of the Creator. Though man, they tell us, can do nothing, the Almighty requires every thing from him, and regards every sin as including in it the sentence of eternal damnation. How is this made out? Nothing is so easy. Behold the demonstration: "As God is an infinite Being, every offence against him deserves an infinite punishment." Repeatedly have we heard this argument waged and admitted, yet it is impossible to produce an instance of more inebriated logic:

This,' says Mr. B., is one of those shreds of ancient scholastic divinity, which the Calvinists have preserved with pious care as

5

a pre

a precious relic. It is, also, one of the most wretched sophisms that ever enslaved the mind of man, or thrilled his heart with horror. It would be just as much to the purpose to say, that God being an invisible Being, every offence against him required an invisible punishment.

What, in the name of common sense, have such attributes to do with the adjustment of rewards and punishments, in his moral government of the world? Is it not his wisdom, his justice, and his mercy alone, that have to do with the business? If we will, therefore, draw inferences from the abstract character of the Deity respecting the rules of his government, we ought to reason thus: God is just, therefore the Judge of all the earth will inflict none but just and equitable punishments.'

On the Divine character respecting the exercise of justice and mercy, some remarks are offered in the 2d chapter, which Calvinists ought not to slight; because in this particular their representation of the Deity tends to destroy our idea of him as a Being intitled to our purest love and highest reverence. Surely, with such an impression on our minds, we shall be excused if we transcribe Mr. B.'s argumentations with the Methodists on this subject:

The dictates of nature, concerning the moral dispositions of the Deity, are as plain and decisive as the proofs which are given us of his power and godhead. He that made the eye, does he not see? He that formed the ear, shall he not hear? This is unanswerable reasoning. Not less so is the following. He that taught us to respect justice and humanity, is he not just and humane? He that approves the exercise of mercy, is he not merciful and kind? Justice in God must, therefore, be the same thing as justice among

men.

Now we feel no respect for that species of justice (if it can be so called), which consists merely in the rigorous punishment of offences; and we abuse the meaning of words, when we give that respectable name to a disposition which disregards the cries and tears of penitence; which admits of no apology for the weaknesses and infirmities of nature; for the strength of passion, and the surprise of temptation.

Justice does not consist in applying the severest penalties of law, without discrimination; on the contrary, we would not hesitate to call that judge or that law unjust, among men, which made no allowance for the various circumstances which affect the criminality of the

same overt act.

Let us apply these principles to the Divine government, and see if they do not confute those absurd notions of justice to which we have alluded. Every thing in the circumstances of mankind calls for indulgence and lenity on the part of their Judge. Born with strong passions, surrounded with powerful temptations, prone to err in judgment, frequently spoiled by éducation, and corrupted by example; it is perfectly impossible for man wholly to avoid offences.

U 4

offences. From a creature thus circumstanced, it would be the height of injustice to exact a rigorous and perfect obedience to such a law as the Calvinists describe. This would be literally to reap where he had not sown, and to gather where he had not strewed: it would be worse than the cruelty of the Egyptians, when they com◄ pelled the Israelites to make brick without the necessary materials. If an earthly governor were to act this way towards his subjects, we would call it insulting tyranny. Is it a light matter, then, to accuse the God of heaven of such cruelty? to represent the Father of mercies as a demon of despotism?'

What reply worth hearing can a Calvinist return to this reasoning?

In the third chapter, Mr. Burns examines the ideas of the Evangelicals respecting the principles and motives of true virtue; and, by detecting the latent error which vitiates their representations and reasonings, he places in a clear light the fallacies by which they are led astray. He admits the importance of faith and the glory of God as motives to action, but he bids us consider what these terms imply:

All their ideas about faith and the glory of God proceed upon the supposition, that Methodism and Christianity are the same things. Once grant them this, or allow them to assume it without contradiction, and they may go on very smoothly to prove from Scripture, that without the principle of faith, and the motives of pleasing and honouring God, there can be no perfect virtue. This is very true, in the proper and original sense of the terms; but all the while they are using the language of Scripture, they apply it, in their own minds, to nothing but the principles and the motives of Methodism. This is a mode of viewing the subject, on their part, just equivalent to begging the question, and needs to be opposed, therefore, simply by denying their definitions; or, which is the same thing, objecting to the meaning which they attach to the terms.'

It is very true,

That all virtue is comparatively weak and deficient which does not spring from principle, and receive its direction from it.'

But the Methodists err in rating the value of religious principle, considered merely by itself, too high; especially when they confine their ideas of it to a belief of their own peculiar dogmas, and imagine it to be of such value in the sight of heaven as to sanctify, or at least excuse, almost every defect of character, and the flagrant violations of social order. They do not consider, that the religious principle is capable of being so perverted that, instead of impelling its subject to good, it impels him to evil; that when "the light which is in a man is darkness, it is the greatest of all darkness.""

For a rational and moral agent to aim at living to the glory of God is an endeavour supremely commendable: but the meaning of so sublime an expression should be narrowly investigated; since, otherwise, under the notion of rendering service to God,

we

we may rush into all the excesses of superstition and persecution, or mistake the outward acts of religion (like the Pharisees of old) for religion itself. As to the Calvinists of modern. times,

They,' observes Mr. B., fix their attention almost entirely on formal acts of devotion and worship, as the principal means of glorifying God: they imagine that a direct and visible reference to him in all our ways should guide our manners; and that we should be anxi ous, above all things, to pay due attention to the etiquette of certain alleged forms of homage.

In saying this, I would not be understood as insinuating any thing in the smallest degree disrespectful of social or regular worship. I only mean to say at present, that formal worship is but one way of glorifying God. There are other ways by' which the glory of God is equally promoted: for instance, the practice of the social and relative duties of life promotes the great scheme of Providence which is carrying on in the world, as effectually as any other kind of virtues, and, consequently, has a tendency to exhibit the wisdom and the benevolence of its Author.

• If we consider the whole system of this world, in all its complicated combinations of moral, intellectual, and physical powers, we may compare it to a piece of exquisite machinery, all the movements of which ultimately tend to produce some grand effect, in which we discover the design of the artist.'

A distinct chapter is assigned to the debasement, or as the author terms it, the spurious humility' of the Methodists; and here he shews the absurdity, as the "Barrister" and others have done, of applying those expressions of the Apostle Paul, in which he speaks with just reprobation of himself as having been a persecutor, and one who consented to the death of the proto-martyr Stephen, to the case of pious Christians who cannot be charged with so gross a crime. No man who had a just estimate of his character, and who knew that, however sinful he had been, he had avoided the commission of the most atrocious offences, could, without lying to God, confess himself to be the vilest of sinners.

We pass over the last two chapters, on the Censoriousness of the Evangelicals,' and on the gloomy and superstitious Spirit of Calvinism,' because we wish to have the examination of the nature of Methodism conducted without reflections on the character of its professors. Mild are more efficacious than rough arguments; and if we are seriously sollicitous to produce conviction in their minds, we must be on our guard against affording them ground either of disgust or offence. As Mr. Burns means to proceed in his Inquiry, we advise him to attack the doctrines, but to spare the sect as much as he can.-When we took up our pen, we intended to have done little more than to

have referred the reader to the first part, and to have briefly reported the contents of that which is now before us: but the prevalence and wide diffusion of the errors, which this inquirer combats, have induced us to depart from our original purpose. Notwithstanding all his imperfections, Man is the noblest animal with which we are acquainted; he is but "a little lower than the angels;" and his moral as well as intellectual capacities are very great.

THE

published by the Vol. III.

8vo.

ART VIII. Medico-Chirurgical Transactions, Medical and Chirurgical Society of London. 14s. Boards. Longman and Co. THE short time which elapsed between the publication of the second volume of these Transactions, and the appearance of a third, must be gratifying to the members of the profession, as denoting the continued and even increased exertions of a society which appears, from its constitution and management, to be so well adapted to the improvement of medical science. We cannot but hope that the extensive basis, on which it is founded, will give it a more permanent existence than some of its predecessors have enjoyed; which, whatever merits they may have possessed, depended principally on the talents of two or three individuals, and therefore expired with their original projectors.

According to our custom on former occasions, we shall give a brief account of the different papers which compose this volume. The first is by Sir Gilbert Blane, intitled Facts and Observations respecting intermittent Fevers and the Exhalations which oceasion them,' consisting principally of his experience of the disease during his professional visit to Walcheren in 1809. The account is in all respects valuable, and clearly establishes many important points concerning the fatal epidemic which attended the Flushing expedition. Sir Gilbert shews that the disease originated entirely from the marsh effluvia, which had successively affected all the troops who had been stationed in that province, and that typhus and dysentery did not make their appearance until a subsequent period. The circumstances mentioned respecting the nature of the effluvium, its mode of producing disease, the symptoms which appeared, their progress and termination, are highly deserving of attention. The rapidity with which the fever invaded those who were liable to its influence rendered the treatment extremely difficult, and seemed to give no time for the employment of those remedies which are found sufficient to remove intermittents in this country. Copious purging was indeed the only general plan which could be adopted.-Sir Gilbert

Blane's