certainly well entitled to the repre-n which he gives of them, as persons we been ploughing with an ox and an ether; as having "yoked their indussuch preposterous and obstinate folly, ey can look for no blessing upon their (p. 115.) We need no other beacon at which these marvellously absurd thefurnish of the danger which results eglecting the principles of sound and phical criticism. If any person can He himself to believe, after reading Mr. e's observations, as here cited from p. 123, that the resources of man can ever any approach to the achievement of onders as the Bible ascribes to Moses, Christ, and to many of the ministers of espective dispensations," he may congrahimself upon having a talent for creduich will not easily be exceeded. Eating the direct evidence which we posthe actual performance of miracles, Mr. se selects four examples, in order to exroadly and distinctly, the foundation of scent to the fact, that such things were and truly accomplished: viz. (I.) The of fire and cloud which accompanied the tes. (2) The restoration of the blind sight, as recorded in the 9th chapter of ohn. (3.) The resurrection of Lazarus. 4) Our Saviour's own resurrection. In ird section of this chapter are some very ous observations on the love of the marsa charge from which he most satis-ily vindicates the character of the aposproving that the natural temper of these sses was that of men, in whom, if we can He in any man, we may confide as being -ate judges of fact, as persons not likely to arried away by credulity; and showing, the circumstances of the whole history, their adherence to Christ, and their zeal s cause, did not and could not arise from love of the marvellous. We add some -vations by Mr. Le Bas connected with the ect. We all know that the love of the marvelis a most valuable and convenient topic in hands of the freethinkers. It saves them a d of thought and research. Into this quathey resolve all the histories of preternaI agency. Mankind, they tell us, are by are voraciously credulous; and superstition tensely contagious; and as for enthusiasm, operation is absolutely electrical: it is proated with the force and rapidity exhibited he galvanic battery. Accordingly the dend for wonders has, in every age, been so versal, and so insatiable, that wise men e thought it necessary to provide a vast ho, amply stored with every imaginable ety of prodigies, in which the public mind ht at all times expatiate and take its pase. That this is the right solution of all estions relative to miracles is obvious: for not Dr. Johnson himself told us, that he walked dry-shod over an arm of the Red Sea ? There is no portent in the annals of the marvellous that was ever more greedily swallowed, than this notable account of all wonders is received, from the mouths of their professors, by the scholars of the freethinking school-falsely so called!--the school, rather, whose disciples would more willingly endure a month at the Brixton tread-wheel, than encounter, for half an hour, the toil of really thinking for themselves. The masters and pupils of this ludus impudentiæ could endure no worse a penance, than to lay aside their nonsensical and lying vanities, and to pass a little time under the tuition of Mr. Penrose. It would be weariness to their very flesh to come to close quarters with an honest and steady thinker." pp. 125 -127. We would gladly, if we were not afraid of exceeding reasonable limits, state the views entertained by Mr. Penrose, and confirmed by his reviewer, concerning the probability of the Christian system as an element of the credibility of the miracles appealed to in attestation of it. This probability is not the proof; it is introduced only to show of the doctrine that it is in itself highly capable of being sustained by the miracles. Yet to those who are capable of appreciating the argument, the doctrines must carry with them great authority; when rightly understood, they indicate such a knowledge of the principles of our nature, and the moral character of the mind, as to leave no doubt, under the circumstances of their divine original. Hence, says Mr. Penrose, Though miracles may, on the promulgation of a religion, be the evidence best fitted to rouse attention, and though they afford the most obvious and most demonstrative proof of it; yet among all persons able justly to estimate the real nature and true merits of Christianity, the character of its doctrines, and their adaptation to the human mind, to its wants, its weaknesses, and its whole moral constitution, are commonly what constitute their most efficient conviction, Nor does this rest on any less rational principle, than that on which, in all sciences, the proficient is always allowed to establish for himself principles not wholly comprehensible by those who are acquainted with only the ruder outline, or the grosser elements, of the subject which he undertakes to examine." p. 148. Mr. Le Bas follows his author with occasional remarks, illustrative or confirmatory of his positions, through several chapters, which have for their object-to prove that imposture never was supported by such evidence as that by which the Scripture miracles are established: to expose the unreasonableness of the demand which scepticism sometimes makes for more full and cogent miraculous evidence, showing that consequences by no means favourable on the whole, might probably have resulted from a more general conviction among the Jews of our Saviour's resurrection and Messiahthat the evidence of the Christian 562 But qualified, or limited, or even overpowered no circumstances can be conceived sufficient to annihilate in us the tendency towards such reliance. Instances there doubtless have been, and are, of absolute and universal scepticism. But this, after all, is an unnatural state of mind: a condition brought on by a course of perverse and injurious discipline; and it is proved to be so by the uneasiness it is sure to inflict. It may promise to place its victim on a couch of repose, but it actually stretches him on the When a man forcirack of incessant torture. bly suppresses all his kindliest affections, be becomes a misanthrope. When he distorts all his moral and intellectual faculties, he becomes a pyrrhonist. In either case, he becomes one And of of the most pitiable of human beings. all the symptoms of his wretchedness there is none, perhaps, more striking, than his miserable and treacherous consolation,—namely, that his misanthropy secures him from all delusion of the heart, and his pyrrhonism from all errors of the understanding!"-pp 83-85. true and false miracles: "for the Scripture, natural, or on merely human evidence, may be miracles occupy a position of their own, they do not stand near the border territory;" and lastly, to point out the sort of claim upon our attention belonging to alleged miracles, not recorded in Scripture. We have been much gratified with the observations introduced We meet with under each of these heads. nothing which does not appear to us to be strictly just, and there is much which well deserves the serious attention of the student. Were we to select in this part of the volume, one discussion as more particularly interesting and attractive than another, we should probably fix upon that part of the fourth chapter, which is employed in showing that the evidence of the Christian miracles is of a nature which leaves full scope for the exercise of our moral faculties: the discussion occupies above twelve pages, and no abridgment, as Mr. Le Bos has truly stated, can do it justice. We shall therefore merely remark upon it, that those who have never turned their attention to this kind of inquiry, will, on reading these pages, probably be surprised to find in how great a degree the miracles of the New Testament tended to exercise the moral faculties even of the spectators themselves, and how much a similar effect is answered at this day, although in a somewhat different manner, by the evidence of them. The moral ends of religion do not allow it to be armed with irresistible evidence; much is intended to be left to the disposition of the person to whom it is addressed: and there is a far closer approximation, as to the respective advantages of witnessing the miracles on the one hand and possessing the record of them on the other, between the conditions of the men of that day and of the present, than at first sight would generally be supposed. Toward the conclusion of the volume, Mr. Le Bas cites some extracts from Archdeacon Goddard's Bampton Lectures, tending powerfully to confirm the views which it had been his object in these pages to illustrate and enforce. We subjoin a part of his own concluding remarks, which immediately follow these quotations. "Reflections on the subject of the Scripture miracles cannot be better closed than with the above passages. They exhibit the theory of our submission to this sort of evidence in all its force and symmetry. If we are asked, why we have a tendency to implicit acquiescence in preternatural attestations, the answer is, that we are so constituted,-that such is our nature, that our disposition to rest in such testimony is just as much one of the phenomena of Creation, as any of the physical properties of matter, that it is an ultimate quality from which there can be no rational appeal. Again, if it be inquired, why (in the absence of superhuman testimony) do we feel inclined to give our confidence to human attestations, the answer must be of the same kind; that we cannot withhold such confidence without violence to our intellectual and moral powers, and that to meet such impulses by argument is about as reasonable as it would be to array syllogisms against Circumour instincts and our affections. atances may, possibly, be imagined without It has been our wish to give, so far as our limits would permit, a general idea of the objects embraced in this work, and of the kind of reasoning by which the several positions are Should we have succeedproved or supported ed in the design, the reader cannot fail to perceive the importance of the discussion; and the passages which we have cited must sufficiently attest the ability with which the argument is conducted. We apply this remark both to the reviewer and the reviewed. Their style is somewhat different, and Mr. Le Bas is the more playful of the two, more in the habit of enlivening a close and severe discussion by expressions of a cheerful or amusing character: these are evidently introduced from the natural impulse of the moment, but they are not without their use; they may seem, by provoking a smile, to relieve the exhausted attention even of the closest thinker: and they will induce many a young reader, to his own great advantage, to proceed through the whole volume, when, from the logical strictness of the reasoning, he might otherwise be disposed to stop half-way. From the Home Missionary Magazine. HEBREW HYMN FOR THE SPRING. "For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is coine, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land."-Song of Solomon, ii 11, 12. O'ER Cedron's banks the unfolded flower Has woke the regal lily's pride; And pours its plaintive notes of grief. onsive to the strain of mirth, ar the tuneful forest rings; fragrance breathes the teeming earth, th music flow the gushing springs. "hou, at whose Almighty breath mense worth of Christian friendship, of "the sweet uses of adversity," and of the unwearied goodness of God, combine to invest it with peculiar interest; and we are persuaded that we shall best consult the edification of our readers, as well as be gratifying ourselves, by giving them the following extract to this effect. -After certain prefatory remarks, Mr. W. proceeds "It is known to several of my hearers, that, about two years and a half ago, the mind of the preacher was troubled by many distressing doubts respecting the divine origin of the Christian religion; and, that, in consequence, he thought it his duty to decline the ministerial office, and to investigate the subject fully and minutely. This investigation was not commenced without close examination of his own heart, and fervent prayer to Almighty God, and a resolution to adopt whatever conclusions should appear to him to be true, however painful or gloomy. A severe and lingereing sickness suspended his inquiries during e hours of wrath and darkness wane; mature springs from annual death, d shoots the spangled herb again; Ist the sullen whirlwind's force, hile storms obey thy sovereign will; n the milder summer's course, e source of light and bounty still. on yon laughing plains alone, -veal thy soft and quickening power, be thine only mercy shown here outward gloom and winter lower; where the night of guilt is spread, nd waken'd conscience breathes despair, cend to heal, and gently shed y renovating influence there! From the Baptist Magazine. many months; but at length, having carefully studied the principal works on each side of the question, and closely reflected on the various arguments and objections they furnished, he caleth the broken in heart, and bindeth up arranged his thoughts in writing, and submitted ounds. Ps. cxlvii. 3. Thou, who dry'st the mourner's tear, ow dark this world would be, when deceived and wounded here, We could not fly to thee. friends who in our sunshine live, When winter comes, are flown; he who has but tears to give, Iust weep those tears alone. thou wilt heal that broken heart, Which, like the plants that throw cir fragrance from the wounded part, Breathes sweetness out of wo. en joy no longer soothes or cheers, And e'en the hope that threw moment's sparkle o'er our tears, Is dimm'd and vanish'd too: , who would bear life's stormy doom, Did not the wing of love ne brightly wafting through the gloom Our peace-branch from above? en sorrow, touch'd by thec, grows bright, With more than rapture's ray; = darkness shows us worlds of light We never saw by day. From the Evangelical Magazine. E DIFFICULTIES OF THE INFIDEL MÓRE ORMIDABLE THAN THOSE OF THE CHRISAN. A Sermon preached at Trevor Chapel, Frompton, by Thomas Wood, A. B. pp. 54. s. Westley and Davis. Vy have read this sermon with pure satis them to the examination of a few Christian friends whose wisdom he respected. One of these friends replied to his reasonings with candour, feeling, and ability, which deeply impressed his heart. The Omniscient God, who clearly traces the secret movements of our thoughts and motives, can alone know how the soul of the preacher is indebted to the steady affection of this beloved and honoured friendto his Christian prudence and forbearance-to his admonitions to his prayers. That generously-minded man is present; his pulpit the preacher now occupies; and therefore it were not seemly that unrestrained utterance be given to the emotions of a heart, not ungrateful, whose wayward thoughts were so gently yet so faithfully reproved-whose anxieties were so kindly alleviated. The result of the investigation was, that the mind of the preacher attained a deep conviction that Jesus Christ arose from the dead, that he is the Son of God, and that the Gospels and Epistles of the New Testament were written by his disciples, and are inspired compositions. I have no humiliating confessions, my hearers, wherewith to close this narrative. Touching this matter, I feel that I am amenable to my Creator alone. But how my heart is bowed down before Almighty God, when I think of the rash boldness and pertinacity with which I have dared to doubt eternal truths-how my heart rejoices in that Divine Saviour whose blood cleanseth from all sin-how my heart adores the Omnipotent Spirit who has guided me out of that wilderness of doubt, where hope and peace wither, and in which I had so long wandered,-I can speak of only to God himself." Who does not perceive, in the lingering sickness of the author, the hand of a gracious God preparing him to examine the subiect of his doubts with be condemnation of those who would unhesitat- | ingly consign the sceptical to the curse of infidelity? And who would not congratulate the author himself, that he has been rescued from the gloomy path "going down to the chambers of death;" and who has been restored to the church, and to God, and to the hope of that life and immortality which are brought to light by the Gospel? t sult, and oppressions, and poverty and sic ness; which has nerved the timid and weak confront death with fortitude; cheered dungeon's gloom; soothed the agonies of t rack, and the more dreadful agonies of sorro and despair." The author then proceeds descant on the immense value of the Gospe and closes by a powerful appeal to those wi are disposed to treat it with indifference. Independently, however, of the interesting From this brief outline, it must appear th circumstances in which this sermon originated, the author has dealt with a subject of vast in it possesses intrinsic merit of no inconsidera-portance; and we are happy to bear our test ble order. It professes to be an appeal to the mony to the feeling, perspicuous, and powerf man whose rejection of Christianity has arisen, manner in which he has created it. It appear not from vice, or pride, or vanity, or ignorance; from his preface, that he has reason to hop but to the man whose scepticism has forced it- that the sermon has already been blessed o self upon him, contrary to his wishes and his God; and were it as widely circulated as w hopes. It admits, indeed, that such sceptics could wish, especially among the young an are seldom to be met with in life, or to be read inquiring in our congregations, we are per of in history, but affirms that such only deserve suaded that it would prove extensively bene the respect of the wise and the good. After ficial. May his temporary aberration from the enumerating many of the more popular ob- truth prepare him to sympathise with the weak jections which such a mind may be supposed and to “put to silence the ignorance of foolisi to entertain on the subject of the Christian re- men!" and, wherever the providence of Go ligion, the author proposes to establish the may appoint him to labour, may he, to the proposition, that he who rejects Christianity, end of his days, prove valiant for the truth. encounters much greater difficulties than he who receives it This principle he applies especially to the contents of the Christian books, and to the early success of Christianity. And after pointing out many of the grand peculiarities of the Gospel, and the fearful array of obstacles and enemies which threatened to overwhelm its advocates, he proves triumphantly, that the man who denies its divine original, chooses to encounter a host of difficuties incomparably more formidable than he would by admitting it. "He must believe that four or five mean, illiterate Jews have produced a book exhibiting views of the character of God, and of the nature and destinies of the human soul, more sublime and just than can be discovered in any other writings-a volume comprising a code of morals so pure, so exalted, so refined, and withal so rational, that it is incredible it could have been framed by impos. tors or enthusiasts-a volume containing many pieces of most eloquent composition, and which, if it be not authentic, is written with a subtlety and profoundness of art altogether matchless, and which has baffled the severest scrutiny. He must believe that although, in every period of history, neither kindness, nor severity, nor the persuasion of accomplished advocates, has been effectual to induce half-adozen Jews in a century to embrace the Christian faith, and although no other mode of religion has ever vanquished the scepticism of one philosopher, and although philosophy has never abolished idolatry in a single village, the rude sermons of these same illiterate men, and their equally illiterate contemporaries, prevailed over the prejudices of the synagogue, and the learning and pride of the academy, and "the swords of thirty legions," and the cruel malice of a powerful priesthood, and the idolatry of fifty millions of people. He must believe that wicked or visionary men have invented a religion which has filled the hearts of thousands with peace, and with a delight the most exquisite and holy the human soul can experience; which has consoled human beings amidst in From the Home Missionary Magazine. SERMONS, on Practical Subjects. By the Rer. Edward Craig, M. A. of Edmund Hall, Ozon, and Minister of St. James's Church, Edinburgh. Nisbet. pp. 332. WE have long differed from an opinion which has almost passed into a truism, that more volumes of serinons are published than either the wishes, or wants, or will of the reading public requires. Every man hath his proper gift of God, his peculiar talent, his sphere of influence, and ability to explain or explore something hitherto left dark, or deep. With these views we opened and perused this volume with pleasure, which pleasure was increased from knowing something of the author's early studies, and initiation into the important work of the ministry. The volume is dedicated to the Rev. John Bird Sumner, M. A., Prebendary of Durham. The subjects discussed are most important. 6 "I. The Warrant for Prayer. Matt. vii. 7 -11. Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth; and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened. Or what man is there of you, whom, if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?' "II. The Rent Veil. Matt. xxvii. 51. And behold! the veil of the temple was rent in twain, from the top to the bottom.' "III. On Self-denial. Matt. xvi. 24. 'If any man will come after me, let him deny himself.' "IV. The Ready Excuse. Luke xiv. 18 'I pray thee have me excused.' The Flood of Fire. Matt. xxiv. 37. | the joy consequent on that free forgiveness he days of Noah were, so shall also the which our heavenly Master and Judge bestows g of the Son of man be.' upon us. The Believer's Privilege. 1 John iii. Sehold what manner of love the Father estowed upon us, that we should be callsons of God.' II. The Believer Unknown. 1 John iii. Therefore the world knoweth us not, beit knew him not.' III. The Believer's Expectation. 1 John Beloved, now are we the sons of God, doth not yet appear what we shall be, but how that when he shall appear we shall e him, for we shall see him as he is.' X. The Force of Hope. 1 John iii. 3. every man that hath this hope in him eth himself, even as he is pure.' The Test of True Religion. Prov. iii. My son, give me thine heart.' I. Religious Conversation. Matt. xii. Out of the abundance of the heart, the h speaketh.' KII. The Law of Peace. Romans xii. 18. be possible, as much as in you lieth, live eably with all men.' XIII. The Worth of Charity. 1 Cor. xiii. And now abideth faith, hope, charity, three, but the greatest of these is ity.' XIV. The Glad Tidings. Acts xiii. 18. it known unto you, therefore, men and hren, that through this man, is preached you the forgiveness of sins."" he introduction to Sermon XII. on "the of Peace," is very beautiful.What a lovely thing is peace! Look at the in after it has been lashed by angry winds a storm. Watch the gradual subsiding of agitated waters. The dark and frowning ads pass quietly away, the wind falls, the esky appears again, and the mighty depths Ocean gradually calm their surface, and are and smiling. This is peace in the natural ld-peace, after elemental strife; and grand may be the features of such contention, there surely something more congenial with the ter part of our nature, in the more tranquil ne. There is something analogous to this in - moral world. The passions of man are en to agitation. Various causes may rouse d raise them; and the mind may become e the raging waves of the ocean. But how lightful it is to those who at all rightly apeciate the moral nature with which God has dowed us, to find within, the influence of a ntrolling pacific principle, laying every any passion to rest again, subduing pride, and vy, and rancour, and malevolence, and callg up in their stead the spirit of tenderness, eckness, and forbearance, and an eager willgness to forgive others, as God for Christ's ke has forgiven us.' "He who has experienced this change, nows a far superior and more satisfactory de ght than any which he "And think of perfect peace in heaven! It will be the complete exclusion from the society of that holy dwelling, of all the workings of proud, selfish, unjust, and unkind feeling: the total subsiding of all the affections into pure equanimity; so that our capacities shall be perfectly free, spontaneously alive to all that is friendly, benevolent, and generous, and entirely and eternally precluded from the existence of even a secret wish, which might invade the justice due to any individual, or in the slightest degree disturb the harmony of the whole. Let other men, men of other religious professions, love the bustle and collision which arise out of the selfishness of the heart in its fallen state; but let Christians learn to weep in godly sincerity, over every remainder of such corrupt tendency that they detect within them. Let them long ardently for that state of moral perfection, when Judah shall no more vex Ephraim, nor Ephraim Judah:' but when the mind of every redeemed creature shall be in perfect and perpetual harmony with the equitable, holy, and benevolent mind of God. Let it be our privilege to breathe after a promised world, where the spirit of Christ shall in all its loveliness be the Spirit of Christians; and where even the secret thought of the heart shall know no deviation from the law of love. "But we are upon earth: and however we may be permitted to speculate upon a future world of peace, we must not limit ourselves to such speculation. It is the duty of all Christians to aim as far as possible to bring the very spirit of heavenly peace to bear upon the evils that reign in human society, and on the exces sive passions in which those evils originate. This is a positive duty enjoined upon Christians during their sojourn in this world of contention. They are the oil upon the waves. As Christ their master and prototype stood upon the deck of the vessel, in the midst of the angry waters, and cried, "Peace, be still;" so ought every Christian to exert the moral influence which his principles, his practice, and his habitual character give him, in order to still the passions of more angry and less peaceable men than himself. He has to keep down pride and self, both in himself and others. He is, "if it be possible, as much as in him lies, to live peaceably with all men." We are limited to short extracts, but cordially recommend this very interesting volume as calculated greatly to subserve the instruction and comfort of the Christian. It is one of the neatest printed volumes we have seen of late. From the Evangelical Magazine. BIBLICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA; OR, COMPENDIUM OF SCRIPTURAL INFORMATION. A new Edi |