Thames-street, 14th January, 1649-50, between a person of the name of John Simpson and himself, in which he made the following brief and striking prefatory remarks:

"In respect to myself,' said Mr. Good win, I must profess before you all this day, though in part it will redound, it may be, to some shame and disparagement to myself; yet, for the honour of Him for whom I was created, and for whom I should sacrifice all that I have or am, I am fully resolved herein, that I cannot be better disposed of, than in sacrificing upon the Lord Jesus Christ, who hath already been sacrificed upon the service of my soul, and of yours. This is that which I would signify unto you, that for many years together, ever since I was capable of understanding any thing in the gospel, I was of that judgment whereof it seems Mr. Simpson is at this day; and though I would not speak of myself, yet I crave leave to acquaint you with what others have said in this behalf; that I produced more arguments for the confirmation of that opinion, than others of my brethren in the ministry usually did. But since it pleased God to enlarge my understanding so far, as to go round about the controversy, and to see, and ponder, and weigh, with the greatest impartialness of judgment and conscience I was capable of; going round about again and again, and telling the towers, and viewing the strength, the arguments, evidences, and mighty demonstrations, of that opinion wherein I now stand; I was not able, by all the assistance I had from my former discussions, wherein I had given out myself to the utmost of that Light and learning and strength which God had given me; all these were of no value or consideration at all, to stand up against that further light which came upon me on the other hand, though I was conscientiously and deeply engaged in it.

I know it is the sense of the greatest part of you, that in matters of faith there is nothing considerable to be built upon any man's reason, or upon discussions which are drawn from the Scriptures by the mediation of human understanding: which supposed, let me say, that there is no man who holds, That Christ died for some particular persons, and not for all, but his faith in this point doth stand merely upon the workings of reason. Whereas that opinion which I maintain concerning the universality of Christ's death for all, stands upon express Scriptures, plain and clear terms, without the intervention of any man's reason to make it out. As there is no place in all the Scriptures, that doth affirm, that he died for some particular persons only, or denies that he died for all men, but many that expressly affirm that he died for all; therefore clear it is, at least thus far, that all those arguments which are brought from the Scriptures to prove the contrary, must be founded upon the discussions, issuings, and givings out, of the reasons and apprehensions of men.'"-pp 220, 221.

Whatever may be the opinions and feelings of those, whose sentiments on the subject of Calvinian election and

reprobation Mr. Goodwin so ably combated, there can scarcely be but one opinion among candid Christians respecting the services he has rendered to the common cause of Christianity, has stated and defended the scriptural in the masterly manner in which he doctrine of a sinner's justification, in his treatise on that subject, and the manly and dignified manner in which he rose up against the intolerant spirit of the Presbyterians, who, during the abolition of Episcopacy, contended for the divine right of their system of ecclesiastical discipline, and protested against the toleration of all other sectaries.

Amongst the British worthies who opposed themselves to the exorbitant claims of the Presbyterians, John Goodwin was one of the first and most considerable. So early as 1644, he appeared as the defender of Independency, in support of "An Apologetical Narration,” humbly submitted to the honourable house of Parliament, 1645; in a tract entitled, “A Reply of two of the Brethren to A. S. (Dr. Adam Stewart,) &c. with a Plea for Religious Liberty of Conscience, 1644." In this he thus expresses his sentiments upon the doctrine of religious liberty:

"The grand pillar of this coercive power in Magistrates,' says he, 'is this angry argument: What, would you have all religions, sects, and schisms, tolerated in Christian Churches? Should Jews, Turks, and Papists, be suffered in their religions, what confusion must this needs breed both in Church and State!" I answer,

"If, by a toleration, the argument means either an approbation, or such a connivance which takes no knowledge of, or no ways opposeth such religions, sects, or schisms, as are unwarrantable, they are not to be tolerated: but orthodox and able ministers ought, in a grave, sober, and inoffensive manner, soundly from the Scriptures to evince the folly, vanity, and falsehood, of all such ways. Others also, that have an anointing of light and knowledge from God, are bound to contribute occasionally the best of their endeavours towards the same end. In case the minister be negligent or forgetful of his duty, the Magistrate may and ought to admonish him that he fulfil his ministry. If a person, one

or

more, being members of a particular church, be infected with any heretical or dan gerous opinion, and after two or three admonitions, with means of conviction used to regain him, shall continue obstinate, he ought to be cast out from amongst them by that church. If it be a whole church that is so corrupted, the neighbour-churches, in case it hath any, ought to admonish it, and to endea vour the reclaiming of it. If it be refractory,

after competent admonition, and means used for the reducing of it, they may and ought to Jenounce communion with it, and so set a mark or brand of heresy upon the forehead

of it.

"If by a toleration, the argument means, A non-suppression of such religions, sects, and schisms, by fining, imprisoning, disfranchising, banishment, death, or the like, my

answer is, THAT THEY OUGHT TO BE TOLERATED only upon this supposition, THAT THE PROFESSORS OF THEM BE OTHERWISE PEACEABLE IN THE STATE, AND EVERY WAY SUB

JECT TO THE LAWS AND LAWFUL POWER OF

THE MAGISTRATE.'"-pp. 116, 117.

The soundness of his judgment upon this subject, the strength of his arguments, the accuracy of his expression, and, above all, the fearless manner in which he conducted the controversy against a host of the most violent assailants, entitle him to the gratitude of posterity. Unlike most of his coadjutors, who concealed their names to shelter themselves from the storm they foresaw; he willingly hazarded his reputation, his property, his liberty, and even his life, by boldly giving his name to the world, and fairly and openly meeting his antagonists, on the question then at issue. Nor did he ever quit the ground he at first occupied. With what kind of argument he was met by his intolerant opponents of the Presbyterian denomination, when they felt themselves unequal to resist the wisdom with which he spake, one brief specimen may be adduced from an orthodox divine of that day.

"If good Nehemiah were now living,' says Dr. Bastwick, and should hear not only the language of Ashdod,.......... but see the abominable practices of the sectaries of our times, ...................how would be bestir himself in

cudgelling these fellows into the true religion? Without all controversy, good Nehemiah would baste them to the purpose, and all such as should side with them; and especially be would belabour all such well, as should write books in defence of such..................I say, I am most confident, were good Nehemiah in our times, and had he the authority he had in Jerusalem, he would baste them all to some purpose; and make and force them, by cudgelling of them, to be conformable to wholesome words. And I am most assured, he would pluck off Cretensis's blue beard, and knock him soundly about his hairy scalp.'' pp. 115, 116.

The genuine friends of religious liberty will not fail to thank Mr. Jackson for the satisfactory manner in which he has brought the merit of John Goodwin, in this important struggle, before the public: a strange omission in the present histories of

those eventful times. No one surely. on the mention of the great cause of religious liberty, would ever forget the names of Locke, Milton, and Owen. Yet among the “* mighty men,” Goodwin ought to hold a place among the three mightiest: for not only are the great principles contained in Milton and Locke, on the subject of toleration, clearly developed and ably Supported in Mr. Goodwin's writings, but Mr. Jackson has satisfactorily proved that Mr. Goodwin had published at least six tracts, in which he had defended universal liberty of conscience, two years before Dr. Owen sent into the world his first piece on toleration.--Palmam qui meruit ferat.

It is not easy to find a tolerable reason why, of the two oldest and noblest champions in the cause, Goodwin and Owen, the latter has, by certain bistorians, been the only name made prominent, even to the exclu sion of the elder brother, unless it be an unwillingness to recollect the loss which the ranks of Independency sustained, when John Goodwin renounced the peculiar doctrines of Calvin, and became equally an able advocate for universal liberty of conscience, and for general redemption.

(To be concluded in our next. )

REVIEW.-Thoughts occasioned by the disturbed State of the Eastern Powers, a Poem. By a Gentleman in the Vicinity of Gosport. 8vo. pp. 16. Legg and Son, Gosport. 1822.

OUR readers are well aware of the struggles of the Greeks to free their country from the tyrannic sway beld over them by the Turks; and they, as well as ourselves, have had an opportunity of judging which party is right. But the slaughter of the unarmed Greeks, and the barbarous murder of the venerable Patriarch of the Grecian church, would, if there were nothing besides, for ever brand the mark of infamy on the forehead of the Turkish empire.

We glory to see a people, once free, once happy, struggling to throw off the yoke of slavery, under which they have laboured for so many years. And who are they that have enslaved them? Is it a nation famed for wisdom, for learning, or for humanity? No! but

He also mentions the horror of the slave trade, and of the cruelties to which the wretched negro was sub

masters.

In those shades where the bards used to roam, - in those groves where the ancient sages taught the Grecian youth in all things necessary for the protection and welfare of their country; instead of the voices of her sages, the harsh clang of arms resounds; and instead of peace, "heavenly peace," grim slavery and war stalk in among them.

At the pass of Thermopyla, another Leonidas and his brave companions have appeared; but unlike their ancestors, they, it appears, have succeeded in their attempt to free their country from the Turkish yoke.-9000 of the Turks were killed, besides several taken prisoners, among whom are three of their Pachas.

Our author takes the side of the Turks; not that he is an enemy to freedom, but he thinks a nation prospers better under the guidance of a throne, and embraces this occasion to shew his detestation of rebellion.

66

Thus while the cause of thrones I here defend,

Mistake me not,-I still am Freedom's friend; Respect her dictates, and her blessings own, When plac'd beneath the guidance of a throne:

Else like the charger, check'd not by the reins,

That starts the chariot over rocks and plains, Till near some gulf he hastes with hurried plight,

And plunges headlong from the dismal height." In opening the poem, the author gives a description of the miseries of war, and of the land in which its fury

"Till England felt, and heard the suff"rers' groan;"

and with a spirit that will ever do honour to her, and to the persons who took upon themselves the glorious task of abolishing slavery, succeeded in renouncing it, and in persuading the other nations of Europe to put an end to such abominable traffic-though it is still shamefully carried on under the protection of the French flag. But for years to come, the name of England and of Wilberforce will be pronounced with rapture by thousands of grateful Africans.

We had marked several passages from this poem, but our limits will not allow of our inserting them ;-we therefore lay the following before our readers, as a fair specimen (with the foregoing) of the general character of the work, and of the patriotism of our author:

"Now mark the diffrence of our land of peace,

And view the horrors of rebellious Grecce.
Weigh ev'ry act, and ev'ry deed compare,
And own the terrors of internal war;
Decision make, which holds the strongest
charm,

The land of peace, or that of war's alarm;
Whether the peasant cultivates the fields,
Or hurls the jav'lin, or the falchion wields;
Whether the ground produces grain a store,
Or streams deform its face with human gore;
Or cities, towns, and villages have rest,
Or hostile arms intrusively infest.

O heaven-born Peace! by nature's just decree,
The palm of comfort still belongs to thee;
The palm of comfort, heavenly Peace, is thine,
By ev'ry law that's human and divine."

"Then long preside, O genial Peace! and Within the precincts of our happy isle ; smile Make glad our hearts with plenty's cheerful lore,

From her full horn abundant treasure pour, And hear the boon a bard implores, and grant That Britain ne'er may know the pangs of want;

Or stern-fac'd war disturb our ease again, Or cross the mildness of great GEORGE'S reign."

From these extracts it will appear that the author is possessed of no mean

"Who quit the comforts of a native home, In distant climes, with gospel light to roam; There to dispel the mists of Heathen gloom, Nor swerve their efforts till they meet the tomb."

clude without recommending the work to the attention of our readers.

"Such are our thoughts, and such our thoughts must be,

While truth proclaims-BE JUST, AS WELL AS FREE!"

REVIEW.-Verses on the Death of Percy Bysshe Shelley; by Bernard Barton. London. Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy. 1822.

IT is at all times affecting to hear of the death of any individual who is called to quit the world without a moment's notice, no time being afforded for repentance or prayer; whether it be by fire or by water, by the cannon or by the sword, or any other of the thousand ills that flesh is heir to." The contemplative mind marks the circumstance as it passes before it,feels the vanity of human hopes and human joys, and is humbled at the thought that the noble animal, man, is but the creature of a moment,- -a being whose bark the eastern wind may dash into the ocean,-a being whom the summer's sun may shine upon too strongly, and destroy,-whom the perfume of the lily may poison, whom the breath of evening may cause to sicken, grow pale, and die,-and whom the fierce lightning of his God may strike to the earth, from which he is never to arise.

Most of our readers, without doubt, are aware of the circumstances attending the death of Percy Bysshe Shelley, a man possessing a mind of superior order, and who only wanted his talents to be properly directed, to make a "bright and shining light," unto which numbers would have looked up in their cultivation of the art of poetry, and whose beams would have been welcomed by posterity, when we shall lie by the side of this ill-fated man, in "the house appointed for all living."

The author of the above work informs us, that a sense of duty has compelled him, in some measure, to undertake the writing of the poem which he now submits to the attention of the public. He would have remained silent, had it not been for the appearance of an

Elegy, written by one of Shelley's admirers, in which he is styled, "the last defence of a bewilder'd world," and his voice is said to be "a living stream of love and wisdom ;" and where other epithets are applied to him, that our author could not let pass without notice, and which he feared might have an effect on some minds highly detrimental and injurious.

A poem sent into the world from such a motive as this, is certainly entitled to a respectful consideration, independently of any claims which its author may press upon us as a poetbut as a poet, Bernard Barton has long been known,-from his Miscellaneous Poems, which we believe have passed through three editions, from his poems in a contemporary magazine,—and from his last work, Napoleon,"--all of which place him in no very mean situation as a votary of the muses. But though the design of the poem before us is such as no good man can be displeased with, yet the execution of it, which we undoubtedly must look to, is rather below the general standard of our author's poetry. This elegy is so short, and at the same time, with little exception, so full of common-place expression, that we fear his readers will not be well pleased with him, more especially when they think of the extraordinary sum charged for the production. The elegy itself consists of 17 stanzas only, to which there is added, a short poem to Percy Bysshe Shelley, which appeared in his former volume, and a sonnet; and the price charged is 2s. Really this is too bad. We know not whose fault it is, but it certainly is such as we feel bound, however unwillingly, to notice.

We give a verse as a specimen of what we mean, when we charge the author with common-place.

XV.

For you THE LAMB was crucified,
Enduring every pain;
For you he bled, for you he died,
For you be rose again;
And liveth evermore to make
Prompt intercession for your sake,

That you with Him may reign;
And, through his sacrifice, might prove
The wonders of redeeming love.

Who is there of our readers, accustomed to the perusal of sacred poetry, that will not instantly recognize expressions in the above verse, that he