And thus we see that without the Redeemer no equitable system of probation for fallen man is a possibility." This surely makes the atonement, whatever of grace it may contain, a matter of justice to mankind. But let us look further into the author's applications of his principle.

He says, "Although there is not a perfect equation of the means and advantages among all mankind, yet it may be affirmed that no man is condemned to everlasting death who has not enjoyed FULL MEANS and OPPORTUNITY for salvation, and has (not?) wilfully rejected them by persevering in a course of conscious sin." P. 345. Thus, by a single dash of the pen, he acquits and shields from perdition all the heathen whose enormities Paul so graphically depicts (Rom. i.), declaring them "without excuse," and that "the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness." For all this, it remains infallibly true, that the "wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God."

Our author then proceeds to put the most degraded and abandoned part of Christendom on the footing of those who die in infancy, as to their prospects of salvation, in the following manner:

"Within the bosom of Christendom there is an immense class adult in years, but apparently entitled to the moral immunity of infancy; geographically Christian, but with as little access to a true Christianity as the most distant heathenism. Heathenism in Christendom!... In the dregs of our large cities it is impossible to say what numbers there are whom we can hardly decide whether they are to be assigned to the infant or idiot dispensation, or to heathendom. Each man is, in a degree, by himself a dispensation. But what is the ultimate destiny? Precisely the same, we reply, with that of the infant." Pp. 346-7. "The application of the same liberality of interpretation which would save the visible church in Christendom, would save the invisible church in heathendom. He is a saved heathen who lives as nearly up to the light he has as does the Christian, who is finally saved to the light he has."

66

Truly that severity of Christian judgment, with which

many judge the unfavoured peoples, would leave us little hope of the Christian church." Pp. 350-1.

"Bold assertions in missionary speeches and sermons, that all the world without the pale of Christendom is damned in mass, never quicken the pulse of missionary zeal. On the contrary, they ever roll a cold reaction upon every feeling heart and every rational mind. Our better natures revolt, and, alas! a gush of scepticism is but too apt in consequence to rise in the public mind." P. 357. All this could quite as plausibly be said of the doctrine of eternal punishment-indeed of the very sufferings and woes that shroud the earth-and of the very permission of sin and suffering itself. Quite as plausible and stirring an appeal could be made to the merely human sensibilities, as to the consistency of these undeniable facts with the righteousness and benevolence of God. But whither does all such declamation logically tend? Clearly in the direction of Universalism, of Infidelity, of Atheism. And what strength the missionary cause will have, if the heathen are believed by the Christian community to be as really in a state of salvation, without the gospel, as with it, may be learned from the missionary operations of Unitarians and Universalists.

We have now shown what we meant, in saying that the reasoning of this book tended towards Universalism, and are pressed full far by the author in that direction. With this we bring to a close the few criticisms for which we have time, out of the many that these works, especially that of Dr. Whedon, invite. Its superficial plausibility, its vaunting and supercilious tone, its pretensions to philosophic depth and subtlety, enlisted in support of a loose latitudinarianism, have very naturally secured for it laudations enough to challenge a close examination. It is due, therefore, to the cause of God and truth to call attention to some of its weaker and more dangerous points. In doing this, we have perhaps treated our readers more largely to extracts from the author, than to our own comments upon them, both because we have desired to do full justice to him in letting him speak for himself, and because we fully believe Dr. Johnson's saying, "No man was ever written down except by himself." We have no fear of the result of these periodical attacks upon that view of the freedom

*

of the will, which, in our judgment, alone corresponds with consciousness, with all fact, with the representations of Scripture, and the great articles of the Christian faith, as shown in its standard symbols. A system which teaches that volition is not voluntary, and its supporters cannot uphold without contradicting it, which involves either the possibility of future apostasy in heaven, or the denial that God, holy angels, and glorified saints are free agents; which, to be consistent, must deny either the universal apostasy of our race, or the sin and guilt thereof; which staggers in regard to the foreknowledge of God, vacates his decrees, and militates against the possibility of his universal Providence; whose broad liberalism makes such alarming strides in the path which terminates in universal salvation; will gain nothing by challenging renewed attention to its deformities. The foundation standeth sure. The Lord still reigns. He doeth all things after the counsel of his own will. His throne is for ever and ever. It is impossible for him to lie. His counsel shall stand. Therefore his saints surely and for ever trust him.

"In heaven and earth, and air and seas,

He executes his firm decrees,

And by his saints it stands confest

That what he does is ever best."

"Both the elder and the younger Edwards, as well as jubilant Dr. Pond, were guilty of the oversight of calling volition a voluntary act."- Whedon, p. 78. See also p. 22.

Correction by the Hon. Stanley Matthews.

CINCINNATI, August 15, 1864.

Rev. CHARLES HODGE, D. D.,

Editor of Princeton Review.

Dear Sir-In the July Number of the Princeton Review, p. 554, commenting, in your article upon the General Assembly, on the report on the subject of slavery, you impute to me the following declaration: "that every man is bound to presume that the laws and the measures of the government are right and binding. They may be otherwise, but the private citizen is not the judge."

From the quotation marks, I infer that the language is extracted from some newspaper report of my remarks.

I beg leave to state that I did not use any language to that effect, nor give expression to any such doctrine. What I did say was simply that every citizen was bound to presume that the laws and measures of the government were legal-constitutional-valid as civil obligations. This is a very different proposition. An enactment entirely legal and valid as a civil obligation may yet be of such a character as not to give rise to the moral obligation of obedience. On the contrary, there may be a moral obligation to disobey it. But there being no such moral obligation supposed, I simply contended that, as a matter of law, every measure of the civil government is presumed to be legal, and that it was the duty of all citizens so to regard it, until the proper tribunals should have decided otherwise.

I trust you will do me the justice to make the correction in the next number of the Review.

Respectfully, your friend,

STANLEY MATTHEWS.

SHORT NOTICES.

Expository Lectures on the Heidelberg Catechism. By George W. Bethune, D. D. In two volumes. New York: Sheldon & Co., 335 Broadway. 1864. Vol. i., pp. 491, Vol. ii. 535.

It is a wise ordinance of the Reformed Dutch Church which requires its pastors to lecture regularly on the Catechism from the pulpit on the Sabbath. Originally this was required to be done every Sabbath, the Catechism being divided into fiftytwo parts, so as to furnish a topic for every week. In this country the rule has been modified so as to require one lecture a month, which secures the Catechism being gone over once in four years. In this way the doctrinal instruction of the people is secured. These volumes contain the lectures of the late eminent Dr. Bethune in discharge of this duty. They are what they profess to be, popular expositions. At the same time they contain much sound instruction, presented in a clear and simple manner, in the polished style for which the distinguished author was remarkable. They constitute a popular body of divinity. Besides an Index, the last volume contains a list of the Commentaries on the Heidelberg Catechism, filling more than twelve pages.

The Early Dawn; or, Sketches of Christian Life in England in the Olden Time. By the author of "Chronicles of the Schönberg-Cotta Family.' With an Introduction, by Professor Henry B. Smith, D. D. New York: M. D. Dodd, 506 Broadway. 1864. Pp. 397.

Few works have been more deservedly popular, both in this country and in England, than the "Chronicles of the Schönberg-Cotta Family." The simple announcement that this is a new work from the same author, written on the same plan, will be enough to secure for it a cordial and extensive welcome.

The Hawaian Islands: Their Progress and Condition under Missionary Labours. By Rufus Anderson, D. D., Foreign Secretary of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. Boston: Gould & Lincoln. New York: Sheldon & Co. 1864.

The title and the author of this well-constructed volume will secure for it the eager attention of all interested in missions, and the propagation of the gospel. This attention will be richly rewarded. Dr. Anderson having recently visited the