to constrain the opponents, if not to live in perfect harmony and good humour, at least to keep the peace. Whatever may be the secret discontents of those who shall be found to have been unable to maintain the ground they had assumed, society, generally, will not fail to cherish, with affection and gratitude, the memory of those who have successfully distinguished themselves in the vindication of those principles which inspire a kindlier spirit, and offer a more extensive participation of benefits, and to applaud the labours of those, who have contributed to perpetuate the memory of their names, and the value of their services.

Without entering into a particular statement of the points at issue, it will be sufficient for the present occasion to observe, generally, the melioration of sentiment and expression of those, who, in the present day, profess to be the supporters of the doctrine of particular redemption, | compared with those which were employed by the generalissimo of the Calvinian host. On the subject of a limited atonement, and of a sovereign reprobation, Calvin has thus expressed himself: "Unde factum est, tot gentes, una cum liberis eorum infantibus aternæ morti involveret lapsus ada absque remidio, nisi quia Deo ita visum est? Decretum quidem horribile, fateor: inficiare tamen nemo poterit, quin præsciverit Deus quem exitum habiturus esset homo, antequam ipsum conderet, et ideo præsciverit quia decreto suo sic ordinarat." Calv. Inst. lib. iii. cap. 23. i. e. "Whence is it, that the fall of Adam has involved so many nations, together with their infant children, in eternal death, without remedy, but that so it seemed good in the sight of God? A horrible decree, indeed, I confess: no one, however, can deny that God foreknew what event awaited man, before he made him, and that he therefore foreknew it, because he had thus ordained it by his own decree."

Every Christian reader will rejoice in the mitigated expressions, at least, with which the Calvinism of the present day is asserted, if those expressions do not even encourage the hope, that the period is not remote, when the horrible decree shall be abandoned as altogether untenable and unscriptural. In this opinion, we are glad to

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indulge upon the good faith of what is affirmed in a periodical publication of the present day, professedly Calvinistic. We, and the body of persons called Calvinists, are not the advocates of a limited atonement, or of sovereign reprobation. No, we hold that the sacrifice of Christ possesses infinite worth, and, in regard of sufficiency, is able to save a thousand worlds. We are satisfied that no human creature will suffer the condemnation of eternity, but on account of personal guilt, and that no decree of God interferes with the salvation of any sinner to whom the gospel is preached.' London Christian Instructor, or Congregational Magazine, for October, 1822.

For these important concessions, and the improved temper in which they are made, we cannot but revert with pleasure to the age which gave birth to John Goodwin, as having mainly contributed: a period not less remarkable for the political conflicts which shook the state, and involved it in a civil war, than for the predominance of the peculiar sentiments of Calvin, and the spirit of intolerance in matters of religion. For though John Goodwin was far from being solitary in his opposition to the dogmata of Calvinism, yet by the soundness of his learning, the acuteness of his genius, and the depth of his piety, joined to an unusual sweetness of temper, and felicity of expression, he soon became pre-eminent in the controversy. He was successful in carrying conviction to the minds of thousands, of the untenableness of Calvinistic predestination. The attention which was thus awakened to the doctrines he taught, soon brought upon him a host of opponents, to whose attacks, many of which were of the most injurious and abusive nature, we are indebted for some of the most valuable treatises on the subjects of general redemption and religious liberty, ever produced. Thus did he give a practical exposition of Samson's riddle-"Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness.'

Nor was he called upon merely to write in vindication of what he taught, but on more occasions than one, he was challenged to public disputations. One of these was held in the church of Allhallows the Great, in Upper

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. Goodwin, 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 -pp 220, 221.

men.

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, in the masterly manner in which he has stated and defended the scriptural 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 dangerous 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 bath any, ought to admonish it, and to endeavour the reclaiming of it. If it be refractory,

these, the topics become familiar to the common reader, who is introduced to those melancholy scenes, which stain the history of Christendom with rivers of human blood. The volume before us is calculated to befriend the protestant cause against the innovations of Infallibility; and as such, Mr. Walker is deserving the support of all, who rejoice on reflecting that the flames of Smithfield are extinguished.

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

Ir 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 feeble bark the eastern wind may dash into the ocean, 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 bas 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, another short poem, addressed to 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 he 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 h

has read over and over again. For our own parts, were it worth the trouble, we think we could prove, that there is scarcely a single line here given, but what has appeared either in Watts, Cowper, Newton, or in the numerous authors whose hymns are crowded into our chapel selections and appendixes.

We will, however, present our readers with the first two or three stanzas, which are free from the blemish of which we have complained.

I.

I gave thee praise, when life was thine,
If weak, at least sincere

As e'er was offer'd at the shrine

To tuneful vot'ries dear;

I own thou hadst no common dower
Of genius, harmony, and power,
To waken hope and fear;
My spirit felt their potent sway,
And mourn'd to see them cast away:
II.

To see them cast away on themes
Which ill could recompense
The proud aspirings, lofty dreams,
Of such intelligence;

I mourn'd to think that gifts so rare
Should threaten to become a snare

To each diviner sense;

Should bring a cloud o'er minds unknown, And fatally mislead thy own.

III.

A PRETTY little religious novel, entitled No FICTION, in two volumes, was sent into the world in 1819; since which time it has passed through several editions, has had a considerable run, and a great number of admirers. In 1821, these volumes, on being presented to our notice, were favourably reviewed in the Imperial Magazine for the month of March.

In this work, the two principal characters are introduced under the fictitious names of Douglas and La Fevre, two young men distinguished for coincidence of thought, similarity of pursuits, piety of spirit, and mutual affection. Throughout the whole, Douglas is represented as holding fast his integrity, and as seizing all occasions to admonish and reclaim La Fevre, who had fallen a prey to those snares in which the unwary are too frequently caught. La Fevre, distressed and harassed with the reproaches of a wounded conscience, enlisted as a soldier, repaired to America, was reclaimed, and, on his return to England, was received by his old friend Douglas, as the prodigal son by his father. Such is the general outline of this work, to the excellent tendency of which we readily give our unequivocal testimony.

It now appears, from the declarations of La Fevre, that a considerable part of No Fiction is actually fictitious, that many of its leading articles have no foundation in truth, that several others are grossly misrepresented, that some of the letters are forgeries, that the person assuming the character of Douglas is the real author of the work, that he has imputed to La Fevre aberrations from virtue of which he was never guilty, and imposed upon the credulous public, by stating that his book contains recent facts, and by giving to it the name which it bears.