fair claim to truth, integrity, and religion, as well as to good fenfe and talents." P. 66. *

Nothing, we think, but Dr. Buchanan's long absence from his native country, and his comparative little intercourfe with Europeans, in the various ranks of fociety, can account for his having expreffed himself in this manner. That avowed infidelity in religion, and difaffection to government, were more prevalent among the lower orders of the people, about the period at which he left Great Britain, than they are now, is, we think, unquestionable; but we doubt whe ther he has attributed the reformation which he has difco-, vered in thefe refpects to its real caufe. The wifdom and, vigour of the Pitt and Grenville adminiftration rendered it unfafe publicly to avow difaffection after the attempt that was made on the life of the king; and all mankind, except at few defperate philofophifts, being convinced, by the enormities of the French revolution, of the importance of religion to the prefervation of private property, as well as of the public peace, the rich and the great made it the immediate intereft of the multitude to abandon the principles, which they had imbibed from Paine, and other writers of the fame school; and to affume, once more, at least the appearance of religion. That the real doctrines and duties of Chriflianity, however are, at prefent, as little understood and as little valued by the multitude at large, as they were when Dr. Buchanan first quitted his country for India, may be inferred, we think, from the facts, that conventicles, where enthusiastic doctrines are preached, are often more crowded than the parish churches; that fchifm is, by fome of the moft popular preachers, not barely extenuated, but encouraged, although it is reprefented by our Saviour, St. John, ch. xvii. verfes 11, 20, 21, as one of the fources of infidelity; and that focieties, confifting of members of the most heterogeneous principles, are made to superfede the Church of Chrift in the difcharge of fome of those duties, for which it was built by the divine founder!.

This author muft furely have fhut his ears to the debates in parliament, and indeed to the converfations which have long been held in almost every company, or he could not have fuppofed that there is a unity of fentiment almost univerfal, as to the duty of the country in the arduous contest in which he is engaged. Have thofe patriots, who are continually declaiming againft our orders in council, and against the mode of carrying on the war in the Peninfula; or thofe political economifts, who have fo lately appeared willing to hazard a national bankruptcy, for the purpose of overturning the prefent adminiftration, the fame fentiments

with their opponents, as to the duty of the country? We beg leave likewife to afk Dr. Buchanan, whether it indicates either good fenfe or good principles, in the fame men, to co operate with three different adminiftrations, all acting on different principles? If it do, he might well praife the Englith people for their good fenfe; though we know not why, even in that cafe, he fhould fay that they govern themselves ! The conclufion of the fermon is excellent; but we know not how to reconcile what he there fays of the almost total abolition of God's worship in many families, with what he has afferted in the above quotation, of "an increafeti fenfe of the importance of religion, and a more ferious attention to its duties!"

The laft of the jubilee fermons is preached from Rev. xix. v. 9; or, to spe1k more correctly, from a variety of texts compared together. In difcourfing from thole texts, Dr. B. firftconfiders the Lamb here fpoken of; and then inquires who thofe are, that fhall be called to the marriage fupper of the Lamb." This is a more valuable fermon than either of the former. Dr. Buchanan, in treating of juftification, writes more correctly of the feparate provinces of faith and works, than is generally done by divines of the fame fchool with himself; but fometimes even his language is not fo correct as we could have wilhed, in times like the prefent, when men are fo apt to run from one extreme to another. It is not true that mankind are juftified by faith in the blood of the Redeemer, if the prepofition by be meant to indicate that faith is the cause of their juftification; and yet Dr. B.'s language is, in one place, fuch as may lead a careless reader to imagine that this is his opinion. We are however con. vinced that he thinks, as we do, that the caufe of man's jufti fication is to be found in the mercy of God, and the blood of the Redeemer; that faith, or truft, in the merits of that blood, is the mean by which we apply it to ourfeives; or, if the phrafe be liked better, the condition on which it is extended to individuals; and that good works, fpringing from this faith, are required, not as being meritorious in the fight of God, but as neceflary to render the justified "nect, to be partakers of the inheritance of the faints in light." On the question refpecting the neceflity of good works, he writes indeed with great accuracy; but he gives room to doubt whether he holds the univerfality of redemption, which is unquestionably the doctrine of our Church, and, as it appears to us, of the Holy Scriptures. "Thefe are the words," says, Dr. B., "that fhall be addressed to the redeemed at the great day, Inherit the kingdom prepared for you;'" as if final

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`BRIT. CRIT. VOL XXXVIII. DEC. 1811.

final falvation and redemption were of the fame extent! This, however, is not the doctrine of fcripture; for, according to St. Matthew, thefe are the words which fhall be addreffed, not to all the redeemed, but to thofe on the right hand of the Judge; though it is certain that thofe on the left hand were redeemed as well as they, or they could not be there to receive any doom. "As in Adam all die, even fo in Christ, (and in Chrift only) fhall all be made alive," or redeemed from that death, which they had incurred by the breach of the first covenant of life; but whether they fhall be made alive to happiness or to mifery, will depend on their having, through divine aid, fulfilled the conditions of the gofpel covenant; or by their own perverfenefs, done defpite to the spirit of grace, and thereby incurred greater damnation.

Should any of our readers find it difficult to conceive how a man can be redeemed by the precious blood of the Son of Go, and yet not reap the benefits of that redemption, we requeft him to attend to all the circumftances of the followng narrative. In the reign of either our firft or fecond George, we have forgotten which, the monarch was induced to redeem from flavery all the British captives then in Algiers. They were accordingly all collected, and the flipu. lated ranfom paid for every one of them; but when they were ready to embark in the fhip deftined to tranfport them to England, one of them ftole away from his companions, and returned into the interior of the country, thus preferring the flavery of Algiers to the freedom of England! Yet this man was as certainly redeemed as his fellows, though he chofe not to reap the benefits of that redemption.

In this fermon Dr. Buchanan's language occafionally expreffes what we are perfuaded he meant not to exprefs. Of this we have already given one inftance; and we fhall now give two others, with the hope that they may be corrected in any future edition of the volume. Speaking of pious Chriftians of different perfuafions, he says,

"On the hallowed day they repair, with gladnefs of heart, to their respective places of worship, and mingle with affemblies, which meet with much more delight for praife and prayer, than other affemblies, for worldly mirth. In many things the Churches of Chrift differ from each other, but they all agree in the worship of God and the Lamb," P. 144.

The fects of Quakers and Unitarians call themselves each a Church of Chrift, and it is impoffible to fuppofe that they are all infincere in their refpective profeffions. Many Quakers indeed are pious and devout worshippers of God ac

cording

cording to their own principles, and fo, we believe, was Dr. Priestley, according to his; but it is not eafy to conceive what kind of worship a confiftent Quaker could pay to the Lamb; and we have Dr. Prieftley's own authority for believ ing that he condemned all fuch worfhip as idolatrous and finful. We do not fuppofe, indeed, that Dr. B. confiders the fects of Unitarians and Quakers, as what he calls Churches of Chrift; but, in the prefent era of latitudinarianifm, the loofenefs of his language may lead many to conclude, that he looks upon it as a matter of very little moment whether a man be an Epifcopalian, Prefbyterian, Independent, Baptift, or a member of any fect whatever, which profeffes to believe that Jefus Chrift is the Son of God, and the Saviour of thofe who believe! We are perfuaded that this is not really the author's opinion; but, as it is an opinion very prevalent, and, at the fame time, productive of the moft pernicious confequences, we should be forry to find it have the fanction of

his name.

The other inaccuracy to which we have alluded is of lefs importance. After quoting a paff ge from Bifhop Porteus's! lectures, Dr. B. adds, "This was the doctrine maintained by that eminent preacher and prelate, who is now himself, we truft, a worshipper of the Lamb!" Was not the bithop a worshipper of the Lamb before his departure from this world? Dr. B., without doubt, believes that he was; but thofe who are inclined to laugh at every thing ferious, may contend that the late Bishop of London is here reprefented as not having agreed with the Churches of Chrift, in the worship of the Lamb, till after his death!

By much the molt interefting fermon in this volume is the laft. "The Star in the Eaft," as the author entitles it, is indeed a very interefting, and, in many refpects, a valuable difcourfe; but it is certainly not faultlefs. The text, as the reader must have anticipated, is St. Mat. ii. 2; from which, after a fuitable introduction, Dr. Buchanan lays before his, audience and readers, "Ift. Evidences exifting in the Eaft of the general truth of the Chriftian religion; and, 2dly, Evidences of the divine power of that religion." Before we enter on these, however, we must make our remarks on the introduction, which, though it confifts of fome excellent obfervations on the nature of that evidence, of the birth of our Saviour, which, by means of a ftar, was communicated to the wife men of the Eaft, exhibits, at the fame time, one inftance of the inaccuracy of Dr. Buchanan's language, of which the fcoffers of the age may certainly take advantage. After obferving that "the manifeftation of the Deity in the

ffefh was diftinguifhed by the miniftry of angels, by the miniftry of men, and by the miniftry of nature herself," and fhowing how this manifeftation was diftinguilhed by angels and men, the preacher adds,

Nature

Thirdly, It was done by the miniftry of nature. herfelf was commanded to bear witnefs to the prefence of the God of nature. A ftar, a divine light, pointed our fignificantly from heaven the fpot upon earth where the Saviour was born." P. 174.

Does Dr. Buchanan indeed think that it was a natural flar -either a planet primary or fecondary, or a fixed flar that conducted the wife men from the Eaft, difappeared when they reached Judea, reappeared when they departed from Jerufalem for Bethlehem, and at laft flood over the place where the young child was? This was impoffible: the diflance of the nearest planet from the earth is too great, by thousands of miles, to diflinguifh from each other the places of the fame country by flanding over one of them. What is called a ftar must have been fome luminous meteor, formed for the purpose in the regions of our atmosphere, and conducted by the immediate interpofition of divine power; and, if fo, it was not a natural but miraculous manifeftation of the incarnation of the Son of God; and indeed to expect a natural manifeflation of any thing fo completely fupernatural, would be in the higheft degree abfurd.

"The general truth of the Chriftian religion," fays Dr. B., is illuftrated by certain evidences in the Eaft. Of these we fhall mention the following. Ancient writings of India, containing particulars of the history of Chrift. 2. Certain doctrines of the Eaft, fhadowing forth the peculiar doctrines of Christianity, and manifeftly derived from a common origin. 3. The state of the Jews in the Eaft, confirming the truth of ancient prophecy. 4. The ftate of the Syrian Chriftians in the Eaft, fubfifting for many ages, a feparate and diftinct people, in the midft of the heathen world."

Our limits will not admit of even the moft concife abridg ment of the author's obfervations on thefe different topics; but we cannot withhold from our readers the pleafure of perufing what he fays of the evidence furnifhed by Hindoo hif tory, for the truth of our holy religion.

"Hindoo hiftory illuftrates the history of the Gospel. There have lately been difcovered in India certain Sanferit writings, containing teftimonies of Chrift They relate to a prince who reigned about the period of the Chriftian era; and whofe hiftory,

though