In entering upon the second main branch of his disquisition, Mr. Wilson begins with shewing the connexion of the analogical argument with the other branches of Christian evidence. For the argument from analogy does not stand alone; it is closely connected with those two leading branches of evidence, the external and the internal. Mr. Wilson offers some very striking and original remarks, both upon the connexion and the distinctness of these three branches of argument, and upon the unreasonableness of demanding á priori arguments for the truth of the Gospel, to the rejection of its actual and irrefragable proofs.

"The external evidences are those which should be first studied. Indeed they are the only ones that can be considered in the first instance as essential; because they undertake to shew the credentials of the messenger who professes to come with a revelation from Heaven. Christianity claims a Divine origin. I have therefore a right, indeed I am bound, soberly and impartially to inquire what proofs she brings of this high claim. And when she refers me to the holy Scriptures as containing all her records, I have a right to ask what evidence there is of the genuineness and authenticity of these books, and what footing they place the religion upon, which they wish to inculcate on mankind. The answer to all these questions is found in what we call the external evidences of Christianity." pp. lxxxvi, lxxxvii.

"We have no right to go further than this in the first place. The moment the messenger is sufficiently proved to have Divine credentials, we have but one duty left, that of receiving and obeying his message, that of reading and meditating on the revelation itself, in order to conform ourselves to it with devout and cheerful submission." pp. lxxxvii, lxxxviii

"Great mischief has been done to the Christian cause by taking another method. Men have allowed themselves to be entangled with discussions on the possibility and credibility of a revelation being given to man, on the nature and tendency of the Christian doctrine, on the reasonableness of its particular injunctions-questions every one of them out of place in examining the evidence of a Divine religion. Let it fairly be made out to come from God, and it is enough. More than CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 288.

this is injurious. We are sure, indeed,

that the contents of it must be most

worthy of its perfect Author; but we are no adequate judges of what is worthy or what is not worthy of an Infinite Being." P. The danger of acting in the way p. lxxxviii.

which I am now venturing to condemn, is greater, because, the door being once opened to such reasoning, it is quite certain that the minds of men will too often employ it amiss. The infidel is the person just the least capable of acting aright in such a case. The pious well-trained judgment of a sincere Christian, might indeed form a better estimate of the internal character of a revelation from Heaven: but the

unsubdued mind of an unbeliever can only come to a wrong decision upon it. He wants all the preparation necessary.

"But although the external proofs of Christianity are thus all that, in the first examination, is required, yet the internal evidences may afterwards be profitably, most profitably, studied. Christianity shrinks from no scrutiny. She courts the light. When the outward credentials of the heavenly messenger have once been investigated, and the message been received on this its proper footing; then if it be asked, whether the contents of the revelation seem to confirm the proof of its Divine original; whether the sincere believer will find them adapted to his wants; whether the morals inculcated, the end proposed, the means enjoined, are agreeable to man's best reason and the dictates of an enlightened understanding and conscience, whether the character of Christ be worthy of his religion, whether the influence of grace, said to accompany Christianity, may be obtained by prayer, whether the lives and deaths of Christians as compared with those of professed infidels, illustrate the excellency of their faith; whether, in short, the promises and blessings of Christianity are verified in those who make a trial of them, by submitting to the means appointed for their attainment: when such questions are put with candour, by those who have embraced Christianity, we answer them by referring to the internal evidences of Revelation." pp. lxxxix, xc.

"The third branch of the evidences in favour of Christianity, is that arising from the analogy between this religion and the constitution and course of nature. We have no right, indeed, (for the idea is too important not to be repeated,) to call for this species of proof, any more than we have a right to call, in the first instance, for an examination of the internal character of Christianity, or rather to call for it at all. All we have any fair right to ask for, is the credentials of the ambassador who professes to come to us in the name of our absent, though ever present, Sovereign and Lord." p. xciii.

"Still, after we have sincerely embraced 5 G

the Gospel, we may humbly inquire, whether the difficulties which are raised against it by unbelievers, or which occur to our own minds, may be relieved by an appeal to the works of God in nature, and his order and government therein. This is the argument from analogy, which rises still a step above the two preceding branches of the subject, not as in itself necessary to the first reception of Christianity, but as furnishing the subsequent confirmation of it, and removing scruples and objections arising from the ignorance and presumption of man. It is, indeed, a glorious thing thus to discern the harmony between Christianity, the greatest of the Almighty's works, and all the other known productions of the same Divine Architect." p. xciv.

After a series of additional remarks upon this threefold species of evidence, Mr. Wilson proceeds to offer some observations upon Bishop Butler's particular view of Christianity, and on the adaptation of his argument to religion in its full extent. Mr. Wilson's objections to his author-we had almost said his idol-are of the following

kind.

"His references to the precise nature of our justification before God-to the extent of the fall and ruin of man by sin -to the work of the Holy Spirit in regeneration and sanctification-and to the consolatory, cheering, vivifying effects of peace of conscience, and communion with God, and hope of rest and joy in heaven, do not correspond with the largeness of the case. They are partial and defective. They might and should have embraced, incidentally at least, some intimations of the peculiar structure and design of spiritual religion. The powerful argument in hand should at times have been carried out to its consequences. The inexperienced theological student would not then have been in danger of drawing erroneous conclusions, on some practical points of great importance." p. cvi.

We shall endeavour to detach and weave together a series of passages illustrative of Mr. Wilson's view of the nature of these deficiencies. Separated from their context, our extracts will not appear with the requisite proofs and qualifications; but we think that every spiritually minded Christian will feel their force and importance. After shewing the very subordinate sense in which only the expression "natural religion" can be justly used, and that Butler uses it only

in this restricted application, Mr. Wilson goes on to remark :

"Whilst we thus claim for natural religion what the Scriptures clearly imply, or rather inculcate, and defend Butler on this point, we must cautiously avoid the dangerous error of attributing to it a power, which, in the fallen state of man, it does not and cannot possess, and which may militate against what the same Scriptures teach of the extent of man's depravity, and the necessity of Divine grace, in order to his doing any thing spiritually good. And, therefore, the language which occurs in some parts of the Analogy, on the nature and powers of man, may appear to be too strong, too general, too unqualified. We speak here with hesitation, because, considering the able writer, and the class of persons he line of argument pursued by this most addressed, it may be doubted whether this remark is applicable in fairness or not. Still we cannot but think, that he unaided nature of man, allows too much to his moral sense and feeling, dwells too largely on his tendencies to virtue and goodness, and speaks too ambiguousfore God." pp. cxiv, cxv. ly on the ground of his justification be

sometimes attributes too much to the

spondent defect as to the nature and importance of faith, by which the benefits of that propitiation are received and applied. The tendency of some of Butler's summary statements, however undesigned, and arising perhaps, in some measure, from his coldness in pressing the particular course of his argument, is to lead the reader to suppose that the effects of Christ's redemption are enjoyed by all who profess the Christian religion, and live a moral life; that is, by all who have that general belief in the doctrine of Christianity, which springs from education and rational conviction, if they are free from gross sin, cultivate virtue, and set a good example to others, by a decent reputable conduct. All these things are indeed included in the acts and fruits of a true and lively faith, but they reach not those peculiar effects and properties of it which prove it to be spiritual and salutary.' pp. cxxi-cxxiv.

"Faith includes, besides the general reception of Christianity, a particular conviction of our own sins, a particular apprehension of our own lost estate, a personal application for ourselves of the offered blessings of the Gospel, and a distinct and spiritual reliance for our own salvation, on the death and merits of our Saviour Christ;-and some reference should have been made to all this by our author; at least, no expression, however brief, should have been inconsistent with it." p. cxxv.

"The same kind of inadequate statements seem to be chargeable on our author's remarks on the doctrine of the Holy Ghost. Indeed we are not sure if serious omissions are not to be found here -more serious than on most of the preceding topics. Bishop Butler allows indeed distinctly, that the Holy Spirit is our Sanctifier, and that the recovery of mankind is a scheme carried on by the Son and Spirit of God. He speaks frequently of the aid which the Spirit affords to good men. He acknowledges that man is a depraved creature, and wants not merely to be improved, but to be renewed; and he quotes the striking text, Except a man be born of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.' We would wish to give the full benefit of these admissions in favour of the Bishop, and against what we are about to state. Nor do we doubt, that this remarkable man implored the operations of the Spirit in his own case, experienced his consolations, and ascribed every thing to his grace. Still we conceive, his general language in his Analogy, on this fundamental subject, does not come up to the Scriptural standard. He does not give even that prominence to it which he does to the mediation of Christ. He speaks of the Spirit as aiding, but scarcely at all as creating anew; he describes his assistances, but hardly ever his mighty operations in changing the whole heart; he talks of his

presence with good men, but seldom, if at all, of his regeneration and conversion of the wicked; he allows co-operating, but not preventing grace-at least, not clearly and distinctly, as the Scriptures teach, and as the importance of the case requires; he dwells on the help of the Spirit, in subduing our passions, and qualifying us for heaven, but passes over slightly the illuminating influences of the Spirit, in opening the understanding, and his transforming power, in 'taking away the heart of stone, and giving an heart of flesh.'". pp. cxxv, exxvi.

"If men are not taught the necessity of a new creation in Christ Jesus, in consequence of the blindness of their understanding, as well as the disorder of their affections, they must, and will begin, and we find, in fact, they do begin, their religion, in a proud, self-dependent temper; in ignorance of their own wants, and of the mighty change which must take place in them." p. cxxvii.

"But, in truth, all these deficiencies, if we are right in our judgment about them, spring from an inadequate view of the fallen state of man. We know the controversies on this mysterious subject. We allow that statements have too often been made, which go to annihilate man's moral nature, and his capacity of restoration; which weaken his responsibility and unnerve the exhortations and invitations which the Scriptures address to him; which extinguish the faint light of natural conscience, and repress effort and watchfulness. But we cannot but know, at the same time, that the errors on the side of extenuating and lessening the Scriptural account of man's spiritual state since the Fall, are equally dangerous, and more prevalent. We cannot therefore conceal our conviction, that Butler's view of human depravity does not fully meet the truth of the case, as delineated in the inspired writings, and confirmed by uniform experience. He speaks, we allow, occasionally of men having corrupted their natures, having lost their original rectitude,' and as having permitted their passions to become excessive by repeated violations of their inward constitution.' He avows that mankind is in a state of degradation, however difficult it may be to account for it; and that the crime of our first parents was the occasion of our being placed in a more disadvantageous condition.' Yet, notwithstanding these expressions, the sincerity and importance of which, so far as they go, we do not for a moment call in question, he dwells, in the course of his work, so copiously on man's powers and capacities-on his favouring virtue'-on his having within him the principle of amendment' on its being in his own power to take the path of life'-on virtue being agreeable to his nature'-on 'vice never being chosen for its own sake,' that we cannot but consider the result as dangerous. If these expressions

were qualified, as they are in Scripture, by other and explanatory statements, the danger would be less; but standing as they do, they convey the idea, that man is not that inconsistent, weak, corrupt, perverse, depraved, impotent creature which the word of God teaches us he is. The consequence of slight impressions of this great truth infallibly is, that men, not being duly instructed in their real state before God, cannot feel that humility, nor exercise that penitence, nor sue for that renewal, which all depend on the primary fact of a total moral ruin: and which form the adaptation between the real grace of the Gospel, and the actual wants of man. Thus all the

great ends of Christianity are missed, and inferior benefits only are derived from it. Neither conversion on the one hand, nor

real obedience to God on the other, can be attained; and the arch, deprived of its key-stone, as it were, loses both its beauty and its strength." pp. cxxx-cxxxii.

،، His standard of the effects of Christianity, in the holy, happy lives of real Christians, is far too low. It could not indeed be otherwise. The spiritual life is a whole. If the glory of the Saviour, and the operations of his Spirit, and the total ruin of man as requiring both, are not first understood, it is impossible that the blessed fruits of all this, in the new life and happiness of the renovated, pardoned, and sanctified heart, should be produced. There is, however, such a thing as the love of Christ constraining a man to live no longer to himself, but to Him that died for him and rose again; there is such a thing as the inward experience of the of grace Christianity; there is such a thing as a holy, happy, spiritual life, which dif

fers as much from a merely rational and moral one, as the rational life differs from the animal, and the animal from the vegetable. Not to have seized this idea, is to have missed one peculiar feature of true Christianity." pp. cxxxiii, cxxxiv.

After these ample extracts we must lay down our pen; though unwillingly, as there remains another topic of great interest discussed by Mr. Wilson, namely, the application of the principle of analogy to the peculiar disclosures of Christianity in their most exalted bearings. The argument is novel and striking; and, we think, in the main just, though not equally applicable to every part of the Christian system. We must refer the reader to Mr. Wilson for the details.

We cannot, however, part from our respected author without expressing our great pleasure, that in the midst of almost overwhelming engagements, and almost from the bed of sickness, he has found leisure and strength to give to the public this new token of his anxiety for the spiritual benefit of mankind. May he find his best recompence in the blessing of Divine Providence, which we trust, will largely attend his truly Christian exertions !

GREAT BRITAIN. PREPARING for publication:-Memorials of the Nineteenth Century; by the Rev. A. Bishop ;-Four Vols. of Sermons; by Dr. Doddridge; left by his will to the late Mr. Orton, with a desire that they should be published for the benefit of the author's family;-A weekly publication, entitled "The Spirit and Manners of the Age;" by the Author of the Evangelical Rambler; An enlarged edition of Deism Refuted; or Plain Reasons for being a Christian; by the Rev. T. H. Horne, being an Analysis of the first volume of his Introduction to the Study of the Scriptures; Vindiciae Christianæ; a comparative Estimate of the

Greek, Hindu, Mahometan, and Christian Religions; by the Rev. J. Alley;-Proceedings of the Expedition dispatched by Government in 1821, to explore North Africa; by Capt. Beechey;-Mission from Bengal to Siam and Cochin China; by G. Finlaison, with an Introduction, by Sir S. Raffles;-Life of Erasmus; by C. Butler;

Memoirs of the late Miss Jane Taylor; by J. Taylor ;-Mexican Memoirs.

In the press:-Short Discourses from the MSS. of eminent Ministers ;-Hints for Ministers and Churches; by the late Rev. Andrew Fuller ;-Selections from the Works of Dr. John Owen; by the Rev. W. Wilson, D.D.;-Howe's Redeemer's