be

that the editor is a Baptist. It was too much, perhaps, to ask, that he should entirely conceal his denominational predilections; and it may that he has concealed them as much as could have been reasonably expected. And yet, in some of the articles, they are pretty decidedly manifest. If any one doubts this, let him read the defence of the German Anabaptists; the biographical notices of Abraham Booth, and of various other Baptist ministers; and the account of the Waldenses, who are styled "A body of Protestant Dissenters during the middle ages," (Protestantism, according to this, must be older than has been commonly supposed,) and who, the writer insists, in opposition to the most respectable historical testimony, were Antipedobaptists. The baptism of the Holy Ghost is spoken of as an "immersion in" the Holy Ghost, (p. 187.) directly contrary to the representations of Scripture, as to the mode of baptism by the Spirit. In an article on the perpetuity of baptism, the Editor considers baptism, not as a symbol of purification, but as "a monument of the Saviour's death, burial, and resurrection ;" and speaks of the baptism of Christ (if we understand him) as an “example" of Christian baptism. Pedobaptism is said to be "derived from pais, a child, and baptizo, to immerse"- -as though it were a given point that immersion was the only signification of the word denoting baptism.

In the account of Austin, a Romish Missionary to England, in the sixth century, it is said that he required the native English to "give christendome, i. e. baptism, to their children;" implying that previously they had not been in the habit of baptizing them; whereas, it is certain that they had previously baptized their children, and what Austin now required was, (to give the entire quotation from Bede,) that they should "give their christendome according to the customs of the Romish Church." Pelagius, who was born and bred in Britain, a century previous to the time of this Austin,* and was perfectly acquainted with the customs of the country, affirms, that he had "never heard of any, not even the most impious heretic, who denied baptism to infants."

We have noticed some smaller errours, which it may be well, in a future edition, to correct. For instance, Erasmus, who lived a century before Arminius, is said to have been "accused of Arminianism," though "when living, he denied the charge." p. 509. In one place, it is represented that Nero did not set fire to Rome; and in another, that he did set fire to it. Compare pp. 915, 925. A work so great and valuable as that before us, should not be defaced by discrepancies such as these.

We would further suggest that, in the next edition, the article entitled "Views of Pedobaptists," should be accredited to its real author. Every one who compares this article with a late Treatise on Baptism by Prof. Pond, of Bangor, must perceive that the former is but an abridgment of the latter; and of course that Prof. P. must be the real author of both.

Not the celebrated Bishop of Hippo, the cotemporary and antagonist of Pelagius.

THE PURITAN: A Series of Essays, Critical, Moral, and Miscellaneous. By John Oldbug, Esq. 2 vols. Boston: Published by Perkins & Marvin. Philadelphia: Henry Perkins. 1836.

Ir would be difficult to draw a more faithful picture of Puritanical manners and customs than these volumes present. Our own recollections have been most pleasurably revived. We could hardly have experienced greater delight, had it been our privilege to revisit the scenes amid which our school days were spent. Yes,

"There is the old mansion, with every story jutting out, contrary to all the rules of modern architecture, wider at the top than at the foundation; there is the tall well-pole, rising towards the sky, with a good quantity of old iron on the farther end, to balance the bucket when full of water; there is the pear-tree, with the huge grindstone under it; there is the meadow with its maple grove, from whose recesses, on some summer evening, I used to hear the Whippowil; the sun-dial, the pasture, the great rock, the barberry bushes, the lilacs, the sprigs of mullen and elecampane, all, all are present to the mental eye, and are seen through the mist of years with a deeper interest than ever. If the reader will step in with me into the house, I will show him the best room, with its homemade carpet, carefully woven with strips of cloth, in which the red, blue, and yellow are nicely adjusted to produce the best effect. I will show him the kitchen with its vast fireplace, an apartment in itself, collected in which the family was wont to huddle in a cold winter evening, to hear stories of olden time. I can show him the red dresser with its well-scoured platters, made of pewter, but bright as silver, lessening in rows one above the other. I can present him with a family Bible, bound in buff leather, and printed at Oxford by his Majesty's special command. I can show him the old worn hourglass, standing in two leather loops on a shelf above the fireplace, which my grandfather used to turn exactly at eight o'clock in the evening, that we might be sure to go to bed duly at nine. I can show him-but alas! the winds of heaven have long since swept away the last mouldering beam of that sacred abode, and before its domestic altar the white-headed saint will never pray again."

But this is only an example of the many sketches which will appear as alike natural and vivid to the sons of the Pilgrims. It may be necessary that some of their blood should flow in our veins in order to appreciate Mr. Oldbug's effort.

"I have attempted to remember, in every page, that I am an American; and to write to the wants and manners of just such a people as those among whom I was born. I have always blamed our authors, for forgetting the woods, the vales, the hills, and streams, the manners and minds, among which their earliest impressions were received, and their first and most innocent hours were passed. A sprig of white-weed, raised in our own soil, should be more sweet than the marjoram of Idalian bowers; and the screaking of the night-hawk's wings, as he stoops in our evening sky, should make better melody in our ears than the softest warblings of a foreign nightingale. If I have sometimes

verged to too much homeliness and simplicity, my only apology is, in the language of Scripture-I dwell among mine own people."

Hence it is to be expected that some of his expressions will be condemned (perhaps justly) as vulgarism; some of his illustrations as too familiar; some of his notions as narrow, and his views false. Certainly, reasonable exception might be made to many of the proper names which he has introduced, were it not, that his own name is not the most elegant. Still we doubt whether the most prejudiced, if at all intelligent, can peruse this work, if not with an impression favourable to the Puritans, at least, in favour of their veritable descendant John Odlbug, Esq.

In a series of "Essays, Critical, Moral, and Miscellaneous," he has exhibited a mind neither devoid of poetic genius, nor incapable of original thought a discriminating acquaintance with the ablest authors and shrewd observation of men and things. Amid flashes of wit and strokes of humour, (we had almost said delightful nonsense,) he has conveyed important views of truth and lessons of virtue. Puritanism, explained and defended, is seen in her true but far from repulsive aspect; Calvinism is divested of its seeming unreasonableness and austerity; and while skepticism is shown to be in league with credulity, faith is made to appear as the highest exercise of reason. The abstractions of Metaphysics have become as plain as things of sense, the sentiments of religion and morality are pleasantly insinuated, and without the arrangement, the "Puritan" possesses almost the interest of a work of fiction.

But without stopping to present a view of the variety of topics which this work embodies; or to institute a critical inquiry, to what extent its author has succeeded in the species of writing which he has essayed, we commend it to those who would enjoy a few hours of pleasant and not unprofitable reading, leaving it to others who must square every thing by their own formality or dulness, to censure.

We cannot, however, close our notice, without a few extracts.

"I scarcely know of two men, who resemble each other, in the intellectual structure of their minds, more than Joseph Butler and David Hume. Both of them men of genius, fond of abstract discussion; not very imaginative; sagacious, acute, discriminating, and deeply impressed with the fallacy of human reason, and of course inclined to skepticism. Take their minds, as furnished by nature, and they are almost exactly alike. I hardly know which is the greatest doubter. But, to what different results did they come. Hume showed the negative side, and stopped there. He showed the weakness of reason; he had no wish to proceed and show its strength. He pointed out clearly that we must doubt; he had no desire to show when we must believe. Butler proved, as clearly as Hume could, the weakness of our reason; but he went on and completed the whole circle. Hume, when he performed the process of skeptical subtraction, had no purpose of showing that any quantity remained. Butler showed that, after large subtractions, there was much remaining. Hume, in tracing his circle of philosophy, showed us there was a hemisphere of darkness and night. Butler showed as wide a circle, perhaps, of darkness as he; but he showed us, also, a hemisphere of day. The one gave us the half-truths of sophistry, and the other the integrity, or wholeness of true wisdom. There is a beautiful example of Butler's philosophy, in a single paragraph of his VOL. III.

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sermon on HUMAN IGNORANCE: Creation,' says he, 'is absolutely and entirely out of our depth, and beyond the extent of our utmost reach. And yet, it is as certain, that God made the world, as it is certain that effects must have a cause.' What a beautiful specimen of comprehensive truth! Stop at the first paragraph, and you would suppose that the author was about to throw darkness over the creation, and blot out all proofs of the Divine existence. But read the second, and you discover that the author fixes one of the fundamental truths of religion on its surest foundation. In short, as some generals begin the battle by retreat, only to break the ranks of the enemy, and to prepare for a more terrible onset, so such doubters as Butler state their objections, only more firmly to establish their cause. In such pages, we pass through the night to enjoy the day."

"When we hear of the wisest and most learned men of a nation, arranged into parties, and disputing about a vestment, a square cap, a rochet, a mitre, we can hardly refrain from a smile; it seems ridiculous. But when we think a little further, we find that all human subjects derive their importance, not from their nature considered in singleness, but from their connections. As in war, the battle is often fought on a narrow plat of ground, which is to decide the fate of kingdoms between whole circles of longitude, so in moral affairs the question may be narrow in its nature, but wide in its bearing. It is but reasonable to presume, that when an apparent trifle excites the strongest passions of men for a long time, it is connected with permanent interests; it is the signal and the seal of some important instrument. We assume to ourselves an unproved superiority, if we imagine ourselves so much wiser than those ancient leaders, as to be entitled to ridicule their controversies; at least before we understand them as well as they did themselves. It is very rare in the conflict of human passions, that the outward and visible sign is all. One party does not venture to bring forward their utmost claims; and the other party is willing to oppose the question as if it were a superficial one. In the mean time, they understand each other exactly. The policy, on both sides, concurs in one point of deception. The object of a mask is not always concealment; it is sometimes worn to embarrass an enemy. In such cases, it is not the 'straw that floats on the surface; it is the stream that sweeps the bottom, that arrests the public attention. We have all seen this, in our own land; we should remember that the passions of men, when packed into parties, are in all ages essentially the same."

*

*

*

*

"Our fathers looked through the ceremonies to consequences, to deeper principles. Power and oppression claimed their usurped rights in trifles; and by trifles must liberty and wisdom defend those rights, founded in nature, and which the Gospel allowed.

"In a word, to represent the leading Puritans as ridiculous precisians, for refusing the ceremonies, would be about as wise as to call the Roman emperors fools and madmen, because they always endeavoured to punish some popular leader in the provinces, for putting on a purple cloak."

AND

THEOLOGICAL REVIEW.

NO. X.-JUNE, 1836.

ART. I. EFFECTS UPON THE CHURCH OF ITS RELATIVE POSITION AT DIFFERENT PERIODS.

By Rt. Rev. B. B. SMITH, Bishop of the Diocese of Kentucky.

THE disposition to compare the present position of the Christian Church with that which it occupied in the earliest and purest times, is evidently becoming much more general than it has been. And it has long appeared to the writer of this article exceedingly desirable, that some able hand should, in an extended treatise, place the whole subject in suitable and commanding points of view. He has waited long with the hope, rather than the expectation, that the task would be undertaken by some profound scholar and lofty spirit, whose research and candour and Christian feeling, would impart to it the value and the influence to which such a production would be entitled. In place of a work thus comprehensive and commanding, he has brought his mind to a willingness to attempt, however imperfectly, the following hasty and limited sketch of a small portion of the ground which a more highly gifted writer might venture to occupy. His immediate object is, to show the effect upon the primitive Church of its relative position to watchful and persecuting Jews and Gentiles, and the effect which has been wrought by the nominal conversion of the surrounding community, upon her unity, her discipline, and some of the most important of her practical principles, as a Church.

During the period of persecution, identity of interests and feelings, of hopes and fears, of cares and woes, would have a powerful tendency to promote a pure and enduring piety, to repress those baleful passions which, in more quiet times, show themselves in pride, self-will, and dissention, and thus to check the rise and growth of parties and sects, and to keep true Christians one in heart and in the external order of the Church. Heresies were always rarest and VOL. III.

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