said, and so well said, on this subject, a new publication is in danger of being treated with neglect, unless something, either in the management of the subject, or in the character of the Author, excite the public curiosity. On both these accounts we consider the work of Mr. Haldane as deserving of attention.

It is the production of a Layman, of a man who has nothing to gain from the profession of the Gospel. Now, though we do not think that a work on Christianity is the worse for coming from the pen of a clergyman; though we consider it extremely unfair to give a physician or a lawyer credit for sincerity and disinterestedness in maintaining the principles of their respective professions, and to deny the same privilege to the individuals of a body which is at least quite as well entitled to the praise of integrity and candour; though these, we say, are our sentiments, yet, a work from an unprofessional, unbeneficed man, has a particular claim on our attention, as being beyond the reach of suspicion. The public has hitherto shewn respect to such productions, and we conceive the present to be as deserving of this respect as most of its predecessors of the same class.

It is the work of a man of rank and fortune; one whose temporal circumstances have not driven him to take refuge for happiness in this world, in the religion of the Bible; one who was at ease in his possessions, when his own mind was first led to the truth. A man whose talents and property might have enabled him to make a figure in any of the walks of public life.

It comes from one whose own mind once doubted, and who may therefore be considered as better qualified for treating the doubts of others.

It proceeds from a gentleman whose name is well-known in the world; who sacrificed, at one time at least, property to a large amount, for what he believed to be the cause of Christ; who gave such proof of zeal and disinterestedness, as astonished all who were acquainted with it; and whose opinions on many subjects, were either peculiar, or misrepresented, or misunderstood.

On all these accounts we are glad to meet Mr. Haldane in the character of an author; and we pledge ourselves to examine his work with all that attention and impartiality which the importance of the subject and the circumstances of the writer claim.

The work is divided into Nineteen Chapters, on the following subjects:

Introduction. Necessity of a Divine Revelation.-Persecuting Spirit of Pagans.-Credibility of Miracles.-Genuineness and Au

thenticity of the Holy Scriptures.-Inspiration of the Scriptures.History of the Old Testament.-Miracles of the Old Testament.Types of the Old Testament.-Prophecies of the Old Testament.Vol. I.

General Expectation of the Messiah.-Appearance of the Messiah.-Testimony of the Apostles to the Messiah.-Testimony of the First Christians to the Messiah.-The Testimony of the Apostles and First Christians is not opposed by any contrary Testimony.Testimony to the Facts of the Gospel History, from the Admissions of those who professedly opposed or wrote against Christianity Testimony to Facts recorded in the Gospel History, and to the Progress of the Gospel, by Jewish and Heathen Historians, and by the Public Edicts of the Roman Government.-Testimony to the Messiah from the success of the Gospel.-Facts recorded in the earlier parts of the Scripture History, cannot be disproved; and are corroborated by Tradition.-Testimony to the Messiah, from Prophecies that are at present fulfilling in the World. Conclusion. Testimo nies to the Messiah; Salvation of the Gospel; Persons who Pervert, Abuse, Neglect, Oppose, or Receive the Gospel.' Vol. II.

This plan is certainly possessed of sufficient comprehension, and if filled up with ability must render the work one of considerable interest. We are particularly pleased with the attention which is paid to the Old Testament Scriptures, and with the care and ability discovered in tracing and illustrating the connexions of the two great parts of the Divine economy. Too little regard has been shewn in general to this subject, although it occupies no small portion of the Revelation of the New Covenant, and, we are persuaded, would most amply repay the exertion which may be required in investigating it.

In the First Chapter, the origin, progress, and extent of human depravity, are examined, to shew the necessity of a Revelation from God. The sentiments of the Heathen philosophers respecting good and evil, are quoted at considerable length, and the pollution, the cruelty, the hard-heartedness, and the debasing idolatries of Gentilism, are rapidly exposed. It contains, in fact, an abstract of some important chapters in Leland's work on this subject, without all their disgusting details. We were much pleased at the idea of a contrast between Cicero and Paul, in the following passage, but regret that Mr. H. has not followed it out a little further.

A quotation has already been made from Cicero, which proves their deplorable ignorance, in respect to their own characters: "Whilst I exist I shall not be troubled at any thing, since I am free of all fault." Here we have a picture of midnight darkness, of a mind "blinded by the god of this world." How different a view of himself was entertained by the Apostle Paul ! "I am carnal," says he, "sold under sin. I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" But he had been made acquainted with that righteousness

which God had provided, and which he had joyfully accepted. It is not, therefore, on any precarious or hollow foundation of the supposed purity of his life, or of the chance of non-existence in a future state, that he rests. He stands, with confidence, on a specified ground of hope: "I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day."-"Thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ."

In order to form some comparative estimate of the strength of the different principles which support the minds of these two men, both confessedly great in their way, let us view them in adverse and trying circumstances. Cicero, deserted by his friends, and in the prospect of suffering death, has nothing to rest on but the broken reed of his own rectitude, and as to futurity, he is in total darkness. Paul, in his last hours, his work done, and himself about to be put to death as an evil-doer, after exhorting a fellow-labourer to endure afflictions, and to persevere in that cause for which he was now to suffer, breaks out into this triumphant exclamation, to which there is nothing comparable, or in the least degree similar, in all the works of all the philosophers: "For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day; and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing."' pp. 35-37.

The conclusion of this chapter also is good.

The necessity, then, of a written revelation from God, for all mankind, is manifest. The experiment of reformation, without it, had long been tried among the most civilized nations on earth. Learning and philosophy had done their utmost, and all nad failed, Where is the city or village, since the world began, that was ever enlightened in the knowledge of God, by either Heathen or Infidel philosophers? It is the doctrine of the fishermen of Galilee which has subverted the altars, and dispelled the darkness of Paganism. The Christian who reads the Bible, borrows no light to his system from the writings of such men as Hume and Voltaire. And were he not in some measure acquainted with the deep depravity of the human heart, he would be astonished that, under the meridian light of divine revelation, their sentiments in religion should be so perverse, and so crude.' p. 41.

In the Second Chapter, the persecuting spirit of Paganism, is demonstrated in opposition to the prevailing opinion of modern philosophers about the tolerating spirit of Polytheism. Mr. H. admits that there was no persecution of one another among Idolaters, and accounts for it by shewing that on the subject of religion there were no conflicting opinions among them. He quotes the beautiful passage in which Gibbon gives a true account of the matter.

The various modes of worship," says Mr. Gibbon, which

prevailed in the Roman world, were all considered by the people as equally true, by the philosopher as equally false, and by the magistrate as equally useful.-The devout polytheist, though fondly attached to his national rites, admitted, with implicit faith, the different religions of the earth.-The thin texture of Pagan mythology was interwoven with various, but not discordant materials.-The deities of a thousand groves and a thousand streams, possessed, in peace, their local and respective influence. Nor could the Roman, who deprecated the wrath of the Tiber, deride the Egyptian, who presented his offering to the beneficent genius of the Nile. The visible powers of nature, the planets and the elements, were the same throughout the universe. The invisible governors of the moral world were inevitably cast in a similar mould of fiction and allegory. -The Greek, the Roman, and the barbarian, as they met before their respective altars, easily persuaded themselves, that, under various names, and with various ceremonies, they adored the same deities." Vol. I. pp. 44, 45,

In such a state of things there could be no room for persecution. But even then religious intolerance was provided for by the statutes both of Greece and Rome, against the introduction of foreign deities and foreign religions. Christianity was the first system which put the spirit of toleration to the test. It encouraged and inculcated proselytism, it dissented from all the established creeds and forins of worship, it refused all intercommunity with other religions: in a word all its pretensions were exclusive. On these accounts it was considered inimical to private and public happiness, and its friends were regarded as the enemies both of gods and men. Mr. H. shews very satisfactorily, that all the persecutions of the Christians by the multitude, by the magistrates, by the emperors, both good and bad, proceeded from the same cause-bostility to the Christians on account of their refusing to join in idolatrous rites, and their steadfast adherence to their own profession. The former was construed into treason, and the latter ascribed to contumacy. The disingenuity and sophistry of Gibbon and Hume are well exposed in this chapter. We extract one passage in which the Oracle of the northern philosophy, is made to contradict himself most handsomely; and which explains the true origin of religious toleration.

In his History of England, in narrating the events of 1644, and speaking of the Independents in that country, Mr. Hume says, "Of all the Christian sects, this was the first which, during its prosperity as well as its adversity, always adopted the principle of toleration. And it is remarkable, that so reasonable a doctrine owed its origin, not to reasoning, but to the height of extravagance and fanaticism." Here, notwithstanding all he has said in his Essay on the tolerating principle of Polytheists, exalting, in this respect, Paganism at the expence of the Christian religion, he now informs us, that

more than a thousand years after Paganism had ceased to exist, the doctrine of toleration owed its origin, not to the reasoning of philosophers or to Polytheists, but to a sect of Christians. Fanaticism and the Christian religion are, with this writer, synonymous terms.

It is worthy of remark, that those Christians to whom Mr. Hume ascribes the origin of toleration, had a clear understanding of the meaning of regeneration, that fundamental doctrine of the Christian religion. Of their practical regard and adherence to that doctrine, as well as of their sentiments on toleration, Mr. Bailey, who was Principal of the college of Glasgow, and who attended the Assembly of Westminster in 1643, writes in one of his letters to Scotland, as follows: "They will admit of none to be members of their congregations, of whose true grace and regeneration they have no good evidence. By this means they would keep out all the Christian church forty for one of the members of the best reformed churches." "Many of them preach, and some print a liberty of conscience, at least the great equity of a toleration of all religions; that every man should be permitted without any fear, so much as of discountenance from the magistrate, to profess publicly his conscience, were he never so erroneous, and also live according thereunto, if he trouble not the public peace by any seditious or wicked practice."

From this account, we learn what were the views of those Christians on toleration, and that this principle was not taken up through any accidental occurrence, but necessarily arose from their knowledge of the nature of the Christian religion. For whoever understands the doctrine of regeneration, and acts upon it as they did, cannot, with any consistency, adopt the principles of persecution. By confounding the kingdom of Israel with the kingdom of heaven, Christians may fall into many mistakes, and have often done so. But when the distinction between these kingdoms is understood, at the foundation of which lies the doctrine of regeneration, these mistakes will be rectified. And the whole of the doctrine and precepts of that kingdom, "which is not of this world," will be seen to stand directly opposed to every kind of persecution." p. 58-60.

Under the head of The Credibility of Miracles,' which is the subject of the Third Chapter, we observe nothing particularly deserving of notice. Indeed, after the luminous and unanswerable Essay of Campbell on this subject, little is to be expected but a repetition or abridgement of his reasonings.

6

Chapter the Fourth is occupied in discussing the Genuineness and Authenticity of the Holy Scriptures;' and contains a compendious view of the facts adduced by Lardner and Leslie, and of the reasonings of Paley, on this important subject. After what the first of these writers has collected, nothing remains to be gleaned from the early testimonies to the authenticity of Scripture; and after the reasonings of the last nothing remains to be argued respecting the conclusions to be drawn from them. It is enough for us to say that any person accus