IS IT A VALID OBJECTION TO THE TRUTH OF
REVELATION THAT IT HAS NOT BEEN

UNIVERSAL?

PART I.

BY THE REV. PETER CURror,

Minister of St. Martin's.

PRICE 1d.

destroyed if one or other of two things were true. If they were mistaken in their estimate of this individual's character; if he were ascertained to have previously performed actions as dishonest as this, or if it was discovered that there was no dishonesty in the action after all, that though it had worn this aspect at first sight, on closer examination all had turned out to be fair and honourable; in either It has often been alleged by those who have taken case their conclusion that the act in question could the side of infidelity, that if a revelation was to be not be performed by the specified individual, would given, as all stood in need of it, all should be proved groundless. Another case may be taken. have been favoured with it; that it should have It is reported of an individual, who has the credit been uttered in tones which every ear might hear, of an upright and benevolent character, that he had or written in the sky in characters which every bestowed all his wealth on one of a dozen of his eve might read. They have held that there is kindred, who all stood in the same relationship to injustice in shedding its light only on some favoured him, and whose claims upon him, therefore, were spots, and leaving darkness lying thick and unrelieved all equally strong. Some who know his character, on all other regions; that this is the tyranny of think such conduct inconsistent with it, as well as a capricious despot, not the act of a beneficent unjust in itself, and refuse their belief that he could sovereign. And they have run into the conclusion, have done anything of the kind. Now they might that all this being unlike the character of a right-be convinced that their reasoning, and the unbelief eous God, a dispensation so partial and capricious in the distribution of its privileges cannot have come from him.

Now, we do not dispute the facts on which this argument rests. This revelation was long in the hands only of a single nation, and however bright and promising may be its present prospects, it does not yet embrace above a sixth part of the human family. But though this is true, it does not follow that the argument raised on it is sound; a tottering fabric may be reared on a rock. To render an argument valid two things are necessary; the premises, as logicians speak, must be true, and the conclusion to which the argument conducts us must be legitimately drawn. If there is a flaw in either the one or the other, the whole argument is worthless. To make this plain we shall give a case. A particular action has been performed; it is ascribed to a particular individual, but it is maintained by those who profess to know this individual, that it is so unlike his character that they instantly conclude that it cannot have been performed by him. If it is an act of forgery or theft, they may be so thoroughly convinced of his honesty, that without listening to the evidence, they spring to the conviction that it was not, and could not be committed by him. Now this reasoning would be VOL. II.

in which it resulted were both without foundation, on our satisfying them that there was no injustice in the act itself, that none of them had any claim upon him, no right to look for any thing from him but what proceeded from his good will, and that no injustice would have been done, whether he had divided it equally among them, withheld it from the whole of them, or given it all to one. Or their reasoning would be alike shown to be unsound, if we proved to them that this individual had been previously in the habit of acting in the same capricious way in bestowing his favours, choosing rather to give great largesses to one or two, than to give smaller gifts to a greater number. Either of these proofs would manifest the groundlessness of the objection that such an act could not be performed by such an individual.

In like manner, the objection to revelation, that it has not been universal, and could not, therefore, have come from God, will be destroyed if one or other of two things are true. If it shall turn out that there is no injustice in that feature of revelation which they specify as unjust, it is manifest that from that feature no conclusion can be drawn that this revelation could not have come from a God of justice. Or if there are other actions from the hand of God, acknowledged on

all sides, even by the objectors, to be his, which | bestowed. We do not know what influence are of the same character with the one specified, and bearing equally the marks of apparent injustice, it is again alike manifest, that the character of that feature of revelation-its apparent injustice furnishes no argument against its having proceeded from God.

approved psalm tunes, all of which he carefully revised, and added several original compositions, and a few of his own of great beauty. The improvement which within these few years has taken place in this part of public worship, in many of the congregations in Edinburgh, and throughout the country, may, in no small degree, be ascribed to the unremitting exertions made by him in this respect.

even of the glow and peculiar effect of a well disciplin- | of the sanctuary. He drew up a collection of the most ed imagination, his compositions were not destitute. When he chose, be could be tender, descriptive, and impassioned, and when he indulged neither in declamation addressed to the fancy, nor in appeals which went to the heart, he uniformly commanded attention by the clearness of his statements, the force of his reasonings, and the pointed and practical strain of his exhortations. It has been well remarked of him, that few men, and especially few public instructors, ever Though Dr Thomson appeared to great advantage displayed a greater acquaintance with human nature, in the pulpit, those who knew him best, perhaps ador could turn their knowledge to better account. His mired him even more in the private ministrations of his hearers accordingly, however secular their habits, could parish. In every house which he entered he was received not but feel that they were addressed by one intimately with a hearty welcome, and when he departed he car conversant with life and manners; they could not evade ried with him the good wishes of all. But more espethe force of his arguments and lessons, by ascribing cially in seasons of domestic distress his presence was them to the ignorance or austerity of their instructor; found to be peculiarly useful and acceptable. While they could not but perceive in his delineations of char- with the utmost sympathy and tenderness he poured acter, a faithful mirror, in which their own modes of the words of consolation into the ear of the disconsothinking and acting were exhibited to the life; nor late and afflicted, he, at the same time, was enabled, in could they be insensible to the value of warnings and a singularly happy manner, to superadd such spiritual of counsels, in which the acuteness of the man of libe- instruction and admonition as he thought necessary. ral ideas and of general observations, was blended with His well-timed addresses at these seasons have been the wisdom of the moralist, and the sanctity of the productive to many families not only of comfort but of Christian and the Divine. To causes such as these, great and lasting benefit. Numerous also were the accordingly, we are to ascribe the high place which Dr chambers of death which he was called to visit, and Thomson acquired and held in the estimation of the when neither the world nor its enjoyments have been religious public of Edinburgh. Nor, in any review of able to yield the slightest peace of mind in the prosthe religious history of the period, will the deserved pect of dissolution, his voice has often been heard amid fame of Dr Thomson be overlooked, as one of the the sorrows of these dark and trying scenes, rising becauses of the revived taste for the faithful preaching fore the throne of God in accents of the deepest tenof the Gospel, which has happily characterised Edin- derness, leading away the soul from all earthly refuges, burgh for the last fifteen or twenty years.' and commending it to the mercies of an all-sufficient and compassionate Saviour.

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By the young people of his congregation he was more than usually beloved, and their affection was responded to on his part by the most laborious and diligent exertions for their spiritual improvement. Many of them still bear in mind the affectionate addresses, and sound and wholesome advices which, from time to time, they received from him, both publicly and in private, and look back with melancholy satisfaction on those pleasant hours which, in Sunday classes and week-day meetings, he so unremittingly devoted to their spiritual

instruction.

With the assistance of some friends, Dr Thomson had commenced, in the month of August 1810, the publication of the Edinburgh Christian Instructor. Of this periodical he continued, for the twenty years which elapsed from its establishment till the time of his death, its only and unassisted editor, except on occasions when necessarily absent from town. The amount of labour which he thus voluntarily undertook was very great, and it is known that he spent many an almost sleepless night in making the necessary preparations for its publication. In the course of his career both as an editor and a minister of the Gospel, Dr Thomson found himself often reluctantly dragged into controversies which occasionally exposed him to calumny and reproach. To use the language of Dr M'Crie, who has also since gone to his eternal rest, "he was not exposed to the woe denounced against those of whom all men speak well. He had his detractors and enemies, who waited for his halting, and were prepared to magnify and blazon his faults.' Of him it may be said, as of another Christian patriot, no man ever loved or hated him moderately. This was the inevitable consequence of his great talents, and the rough contests in which he was involved. His generous spirit raised him above the indulgence of envy and every jealous feeling, but it made him less tolerant of those who displayed these mean vices. When convinced of the justice of a cause, and satisfied of its magnitude, he threw his whole soul into it, summoned all his powers to its defence, and assailed its adversaries, not only with strong arguments, but with sharp, pointed, and poignant sarcasm; but unless he perceived insincerity, malignity, or perverse

But these labours among the young were not confined to the congregation. He soon found there were many in the parish whom his Sabbath ministrations could not reach, either from their not attending Church, or requiring more instruction than could be given them on that day. To meet their case, he collected funds for the erection of a school in Young Street, where the children of the poorer classes of his parishioners might receive the elementary principles of education and religion at a cheap rate. To this school it was Dr Thomson's practice to devote entire days of his valuable time, and, till a teacher was trained by himself, and qualified to follow out efficiently his own plans of instruction, he regularly attended at nine o'clock every morning, and commenced his self-imposed but laborious task. In no circumstances, perhaps, did he appear more truly great than when thus unostentatiously engaged in these labours of love; and so completely did he accommodate himself to the understandings of the children, that instead of being awe-struck in his presence, they seemed apparently as happy under his instructions as when engaged in their innocent amusements. For the use of the children attending this school, he preparedness, his own feelings were too acute and too just to perseveral excellent manuals of education, one of which, "Collection" for the highest class, contains many original compositions, and is justly held in very high estimation. It is known to many that Dr Thomson took also a great interest in the improvement of the psalmody of the congregation of St. George's. Possessed of a fine ear and taste for music, he was well qualified to effect a salutary change in this important part of the services

mit him, gratuitously, to wound those of others. That his zeal was always reined by prudence; that his ardour of mind never hurried him to a precipitate conclusion, or led him to magnify the subject in debate, that his mind was never warped by party feeling; and that he never indulged the love of victory, or sought to humble a teazing or pragmatic adversary, are positions which his true friends will not maintain. But his ablest

'opponents will admit, that in all the great questions in which he distinguished himself, he acted conscientiously; that he was an open, manly, and honourable adversary; and that though he was sometimes intemperate, he was never disingenuous. Dr Thomson was by constitution a reformer; he felt a strong sympathy with those great men who, in a former age, won renown, by assailing the hydra of error; and of civil and religious tyranny, and his character partook of theirs. In particular, he bore no inconsiderable resemblance to Luther, both in excellencies and defects; his leonine nobleness and potency, his masculine eloquence, his facetiousness and pleasantry, the fondness which he shewed for the fascinating charms of music, and the irritability and vehemence which he occasionally exhibited, to which some will add the necessity which this imposed on him to make retractions, which, while they threw a partial shade over his fame, taught his admirers the needful lesson, that he was a man subject to like passions and infirmities with others. But the fact is, though hitherto known to few, and the time has now come for revealing it, that some of those effusions which were most objectionable, and exposed him to the greatest obloquy, were neither composed by Dr Thomson, nor seen by him, until they were published to the world; and that in one instance, which has given rise to the most unsparing abuse, he paid the expenses of a prosecution, and submitted to make a public apology, for an offence of which he was innocent as the child unborn, rather than give up the name of the friend who was morally responsible for the deed;—an example of generous self-devotion which has few parallel-."

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acquainted with the circumstances of the case, that the practice complained of called most loudly for redress, and that the great principles maintained in this controversy, on his part, had for their only object the preservation and purity of the Word of God without mixture, diminution, or addition.

The discourses which Dr Thomson delivered, and afterwards published, the winter preceding his death, on the doctrine of "Universal Pardon," were highly seasonable and useful at the time, and contain a triumphant refutation of the errors they are intended to expose. These discourses are regarded by many as the best specimen of the diversified talents of their author; and certainly display his ability to great advantage, not only as an acute reasoner, but as a profound theologian and Scripture critic.

The leading part which he took, in regard to the im. portant subject of the abolition of negro slavery, must not be passed over without notice. This was the last public question to which he devoted the energies of his powerful and versatile mind. With characteristic boldness and magnanimity he set his face against all partial measures for the improvement of this system of bodily and mental oppression, and in the midst of much opposition, stood fearlessly forward, the avowed, determined, and able advocate of immediate emancipation.

A meeting of the Anti-Slavery Society having been held in the month of October 1830, Dr Thomson attended, and after Mr Jeffrey (now promoted to the bench) and other speakers had addressed the meeting, and stated their views as to the proper time for abolition, he rose from the centre of the room, and craved permission to explain the conclusions at which he had arrived. "With a power of argument, and an earnest

he entered on the subject; and in a brief speech, explained the points in which he differed from the former speakers, as well as those in which he agreed with them. Never was the triumph of truth and eloquence more complete. Before he had concluded, the majority of the meeting was with him: the confidence of the directors of the society in the measures they had come forward to recommend, was shaken; and, in the rapturous acclamations of a crowded assembly, he had the satisfaction of listening to the first echo, which Great Britain, through all her provinces, has since sent back, to the call of justice and religion, in behalf of the injured children of her colonies."

Dr Thomson at all times took an interest in the business of many of the public charities and societies connected with Edinburgh. He was never unwillingness and elevation of tone which can never be forgotten, to give his powerful assistance, either in aiding in their management, or pleading their cause from the pulpit. It is indeed matter of surprise how he found time for the multifarious duties which he was, in this and other respects, called to perform, no less than of admiration at the apparent ease and cheerfulness with which he went through them all. Superadded to his other labours, must, in particular, be mentioned the leading part which he took in the business of the ecclesiastical courts. In these courts, indeed, he was for many years preceding his death, acknowledged as the leader of the party to which he was, from principle, attached. The amount of personal labour and anxiety which was thus devolved upon him it would not be easy to estimate, and few men, it is believed, could have so long sustained the unceasing demands which, in addition to his other duties, were thus made on his time and exertions. He was, however, admirably qualified to occupy such an important and commanding station. Not only was be well acquainted with the laws of the Church, and the different forms requisite in conducting business, but for ability and readiness in debate he stood almost unrivalled. Many will recollect the bursts of eloquence which they have heard from his lips in the General Assembly, and the ability, dignity, and ease with which, even on the spur of the moment, he could reply to the arguments of an opponent. The important objects which he often had in view were, no doubt, sometimes thwarted by large majorities, but his intrepidity and fortitude never forsook him, and want of success only produced in him redoubled exertion.

This is not the place, nor have we any wish to enter on the protracted discussion to which the proceedings of the directors of the British and Foreign Bible Society, regarding the circulation of the Apocrypha, unfortunately gave rise, and in which Dr Thomson took so prominent a part. While, however, some of the consequences which ensued from these discussions were deeply regretted, and by none more than Dr Thomson himself, it will be admitted by every unprejudiced mind, at all

At a subsequent meeting of the friends of immediate abolition, Dr Thomson attended along with the directors of the Anti-Slavery Society, who now almost unanimously coincided in his views. The speech which he delivered on that occasion was perhaps the most splendid effort of his genius, abounding in high and elevated feeling, and carrying conviction irresistibly home to the understanding and the heart. Rarely have we witnessed such unequivocal symptoms of admiration and enthusiasm, as this brilliant effusion of his eloquence produced on the densely crowded meeting assembled on the occasion. The concluding paragraph of his address is so beautiful and so characteristic of the determined views which he entertained on this great question, that we cannot resist recalling it to the recollection of our readers:-"If," said he, "there must be violence, let it even come, for it will soon pass away-let it come, and rage its little hour, since it is to be succeeded by lasting freedom, and prosperity, and happiness. Give me the hurricane rather than the pestilence. Give me the hurricane, with its thunder, and its lightning, and its tempest;-give me the hurricane, with its partial and temporary devastations, awful though they be ;give me the hurricane, with its purifying, healthful, salutary effects;-give me that hurricane, infinitely rather than the noisome pestilence, whose path is never crossed, whose silence is dever disturbed, whose pro