pleafed when they come under our notice, even though we hould not always concur with him in opinion. It will be proper for us to infert a few extracts from the preface.

In the fuperftitious ages, he obferves, men were, perhaps, apt to imagine more things to be miracles, than the Apoftles underflood or intended as fuch; on the contrary, in this age of infidelity, it is the fashion to explain away things, which have from the beginning been fo underflood and believed. This is the declared intent of the unbelievers in revealed religion, who' are for denying every interpofition of Providence out of the ordinary established courfe of nature. And even among those whofe faith and fincerity I will not impeach, fome feem to be difpofed, out of dread of defending any thing which should be but fufpected by any body to be a mistake, to give up every thing which can poffibly be explained away. This difpofition is perhaps hinted at by our Saviour, Luke xviii. 8. as one of the figns of the Son of man's fecond coming; and the author of the fecond of Efdras, chap. v. 1. mentions the fame thing.'

Concerning the prefent work, he fays, In examining this fubject, I have endeavoured to lay together all the evidence under the feveral different heads fully and fairly; and I have endeavoured neither needlefly to multiply miracles where the words do not require it, nor to deny them where they do. I examine the Scriptures freely, and give my opinion on what they say without referve; but when I have found out what they contain, I conform to it, and let them fpeak for themselves, without labouring to explain away the natural meaning of the word."

The method Mr. Barker purfues is fimilar to that in his treatife on the Meffiah; beginning with the general expreffions, and proceeding to the feveral particulars in their order. And in fo doing, he fays, I fpeak firft of thofe defects and circumftances which might arife from natural caufes; and go on to those opinions and actions, which, for the reasons there given, cannot be accounted for but by fome fupernatural power; and our Saviour's method of fpeaking plainly implies that there was a fpiritual agent. That angels are God's minifters has been generally allowed, but that demons alfo execute his will, has been but little taken notice of; yet there is fomething of it in Whifton's Account of the Demoniacs, page 72.'

It is farther added- I chufe to write a book on the subject, rather than an answer to any that has been before printed, because I would fearch out carefully what the fact was, which I can do more fully and clearly by ftating the whole in order, than by giving detached anfwers to what others have faid. do I want to cenfure the perfons themfelves who differ from me in opinion; to their own mafter they ftand or fall it is fuch of their notions as feem to me ill grounded, that I mean here

Nor

to

to oppofe; and I adopt the opinion of any of those who have gone before me, where I think them right. That it was occafioned by evil spirits, was almoft univerfally believed by Chriftians till of late years; calling them demons, and thofe confidered as fallen angels, is from Mr. Whifton: diftinguishing the demoniac from that which fpeaks in him, is from Mr. Burgh; that demons were the objects of heathen worship is Mr. Farmer's; but that the temper of the demoniacs was quite contrary to that of the rest of the Jews, and that the heathen priests were demoniacs for the time, are, as far as I know, new.'

Our Author does not exprefs himself in the above passage with all the perfpicuity we could wifh, yet we apprehend his meaning will without much difficulty be perceived. But the order and manner of his work is very proper and clear, advancing from the expreffions used in fcripture concerning the demoniacs, and the fymptoms attending them, to their speaking, reasoning, and acknowledgment of Chrift, the manner in which they are spoken of, and to, by the people, by the difciples, by Jefus himfelf, and the inftances in which our Lord argues on the fuppofition that demons occafioned thefe diforders: under fuch and other heads, in the regular order of chapters and fections, Mr. Barker produces the feveral fuitable texts, and occafionally adds remarks and reflections. But we shall difmifs the work, by only taking notice of what is offered in the ninth fection of the fecond chapter, entitled, Acknowledgment of Chrift. Here he very pertinently obferves, that though many of the Jews did at times speak of Chrift as a great prophet, yet their notions of him were very various; fome fuppofing him to be John the Baptift rifen again; fome Elijah, others Jeremiah, or one of the old prophets; But with the demoniacs it is no fuch thing, they are all exactly in the fame ftory; Thou art the Meffiah, the Son, the Holy One of God; and it cannot be conceived, that the gueffes of men difordered fhould be more clear and uniform, than those of men in their fenfes. It was not therefore the men; but fomething diftinct from them, which gave fo many perfect and confiftent accounts.' It is farther added,

The opinions which the Jews declare were rather gueffes than a fully established belief. On feeing him do fome great miracle, their conclufion is, he who doth this work mult be more than a common man.-His difciples indeed, and immediate followers, fpeak with more confidence about it. Peter fays, we believe and are fure that thou art the Son of the living God: but the Apostle's firm belief was very different from that doubtful guefs of the Jews in the general. Now that which speaks in the demoniacs, though of a very different temper from Peter, yet expreffes the fame undoubted conviction that he had; They knew that he was the Meffiah; I know thee who thou art, the Holy

One

One of God; and none of them ever exprefs the leaft doubt about it. Further, the difpofition with which the demoniacs speak of Chrift, is quite contrary to that with which the Jews fpeak of the Meffiah for of his coming they always fpeak with joy: he was the great expectation and the hope of Ifrael.How dif ferently from this do the demoniacs exprefs themselves? all that they fay of Chrift is with dislike and terror. Let us alone; what have we to do with thee? Art thou come to deftroy us? To torment us before the appointed time of future judgment? Therefore the real speaker of these things cannot be a Jew, but fome Being, of quite contrary hopes and fears.'

This is fome part of our Author's argument, but for a more fatisfactory view of it, we must refer to the tract at large.

ART. IX. Thirty two Sermons on plain and practical fubjects. By the late reverend Thomas Pyle, many Years Minifter of Lynn in Norfolk, and Author of the Paraphrafe on the Acts, Epistles, and Revelation, in the Manner of Dr. Clarke. Published by his Son, Philip Pyle, M. A. Volume III. 8vo. 58. 6d. Boards. Robinfon. 1783.

T

HESE difcourfes merit the fame account that has been given of the two former volumes, for which we refer to Our Review for July, 1773, p. 34.

The fubjects of the Sermons now before us, are, All men finners; Covetoufnefs; How men darken the light within them; Abftaining from evil and the appearance of it; In what fenfe the names of Chriftians are written in Heaven; Religious contemplation; The fin of Achan; Evil defires and thoughts; Covering of fin; Confeffion of fin; The wifdom of the ferpent; The innocence of the dove; God's giving men to Chrift; The neceffity of herefies; Diftribution of prefent good and evil; Profperity of the wicked; Adverfity of good men; Supreme good of mankind.' On fome of these topics there are two, and on others three difcourfes.

We fhall infert a few fpecimens. In the fermons on darkening the light within, among many judicious and useful remarks, we find the following:

In relation to any fcripture doctrine, remember, and hold faft, the undoubted truths, which you find in the facred writings. Be affured that no texts, no paffages, have either power, or the fmalleft tendency, to fubvert thefe fundamental truths, however artfully fome wicked interpreters may play them off on you. For example: Look but on God, and his worship, as you have them defined in the fift and fecond commandments, and no Jefuit will ever prevail with you, to bow down before an image, or to adore a crucifix.-Do but call to mind, how exprefsly our Saviour enjoins, "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only thalt thou ferve:" and you will never REV. May 1734. be

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be led blindfold into the profane fuperftition of praying to faints, or deifying the Virgin Mary.-If you will recollect what his great Apostle declares, that "Christ died once for all, and that by one offering he hath perfected them that are fanctified," not all the fophistry on earth can ever induce you to believe the facrifice of the mafs ;—10 believe, that Chrift, the whole, entire Chrift, is repeatedly offered up every day, in ten thousand places at the fame moment, wherever the facrament happens to be administered."-Lastly, and above all; Only reflect in how many parts of Scripture, almoft innumerable, you are explicitly taught, that "God is the righteous Judge of all men" that he will finally reward every one, according to his works." and you cannot poffibly but reject, with high difdain, the doctrine of Election or Irresistible grace, and every idea that any man can be faved, without his own free endeavours, or perfonal virtue.'

The term wicked joined with interpreters, in the above paffage, we have diftinguished in Italics, as being harsh and fevere, for though fome have no doubt defignedly given false accounts of fcripture expreffions, yet far be it from us to charge all the mifinterpreters of the facred writings with a wilful and wicked intention to deceive and miflead. Mr. Pyle is a declared enemy to the doctrine of election in the Calviniftical fenfe of it, and improves every opportunity, as above, to attack it, and this he has done from a full perfuafion that it is unscriptural, and that it has the most pernicious tendency to give encouragement to vice, and destroy folid piety and virtue.

In the difcourfe concerning evil thoughts and defires, under the head of fuch as are unprofitable, which if they are not fo at firft, do very foon, and infallibly, become finful by the degree of their continuance, we have the following paffage:

How poorly is that man accomplished, who has nothing in his head but infignificant fports; cr a few fcraps of wit, picked up by converfation with perfons of his own level, or a little above it; whose understanding afpires no higher than to the humble beauties of a dramatic performance, or the exploits of fome hero in a romance, and is void of all ingenuous knowledge, of all taste for those noble truths, which alone can adorn either the mind or the conduct of a rational creature! You find, indeed, that thefe kind of thoughts, and this mode of living, are the utmost ambition of many perfons to whom the fashion of the world gives a nominal fuperiority above their neighbours. Yet if men were weighed in the balance of real worth, if they were estimated by the honour they do to human nature, or the fervice they do to human fociety, how would fuch characters fink, not only below the men who are killed in ingenious arts, but even below thofe, who honestly labour for their daily bread?'

Our preacher adds fome excellent directions for the regulation of the thoughts and defires, from which we fhall infert a fhort paffage relative to company and conversation:

• A man should be thoroughly affured of his attachment to virtue, before ever he ventures himself among her enemies. Example will

often

often effect, what reafon cannot and to preferve your thoughts in a fate of innocence, you must not only let no corrupt communication proceed out of your own mouth," but muft carefully fhun all that is vented by the mouths of others. There is a wonderful, a moft diffufive poifon, in converfation. Debauchery has fo fhort a paffage from the ear to the heart, that it is an almoft unerring rule, 66 Τα judge of a man by the people with whom he converfes."-Had I any hope, that I could ftem the tide of prevailing fashion, I would here add a particular admonition, for the benefit of young perfons, refpecting the scenes of public entertainment, to which they are commonly introduced, and wherein they fee vice, with every vicious character, fo reprefented as to hide its native deformity... wherein the adulterer and blafphemer are almost always prefented to their tender thoughts, not fo as to create a generous abhorrence, but merely to excite merriment and ridicule. If wickedness, then, is fet forth with fo little odium, fo little reproach, can you marvel to find it afterwards practifed with fo little confcience? All I am bound to fay farther, is, that they who will take no pains to prevent this increasing evil, must be contented to take their part in its guilt and its punish

ment.'

With the above remarks we may join another short paragraph:

As idlenefs, and the want of bufinefs, is a fad inlet to vice, on one hand, fo, on the other hand, be equally cautious, never to involve yourself in a needlefs multiplicity of worldly concerns. As the former will diffipate your thoughts, the latter will confufe them; will fill your minds with anxious cares; will fink it under imaginary, irrational fears. Too little employment will open your heart to what is evil: too much will choak the growth of what is good. Therefore temperate pursuits, a fedate regularity in bufinefs, are the true nursery of virtue, and the true comfort of life.'

Mr. Pyle, who was an unfhaken advocate for Chriftianity, and that piety and virtue which it promotes, was, at the fame time, what every Chriftian who understands the Gospel must be, a firm and warm friend to the civil rights and religious liberties of mankind. In the difcourfe concerning the promiscuous diftribution of good and evil, after fome brief account of the state of nations in times merely heathen, he adds these farther remarks:

Let us now take a view of the governments that have paffed under the title of Chriftian, and fee how much we fhall mend the matter. Thefe, I doubt, for the most part, have measured their authority, by the length of their fwords. The ufe they have generally made of Chriftianity, has been To lord it over the religious as well as civil rights of their fubjects and fellow Chriftians." There were few

among the Chriftian Emperors, before the establishment of Popery, who did not play the tyrant in fome shape, or to fome perfons or other. But ever fince the principles of that apoftate church first infected the minds of princes; what good have they done with their power, or what evil have they left undone? How have they fettered, and tempted, and perverted men's confciencies, by penalties unheard of,

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