around us, we have attained to a full conviction, that a right view of the state of man, as a sinner before God, lies very much at the root of genuine piety, and is indispensably necessary to its growth and maturity at least, if not also to its existence. We cannot, therefore, contemplate without regret, a work, however respectable, the tendency of which appears to us to be, to accredit Views respecting the condition and character of man, and his relation to God, which are fundamentally

erroneous.

We are far from meaning to affirm, that all whose opinions on this point are orthodox are therefore pious. It must be allowed that there are many in the present day, and similar instances were not wanting in the days of the apostles, who, in various senses of the term, "hold the truth in unrighteousness;" who, though prompt to confess their corruption, weakness, and danger, are nevertheless apt to remain satisfied with the barren acknowledgment, without any cordial efforts to work out their salvation, without any earnest applications for that grace which is to subdue their corruptions, strengthen their weakness, and save them from the wrath to come.

But while we are compelled, by a regard to truth, to make this large admission, we must at the same time express our apprehensions (and it is a point which deserves the attentive consideration of all who adopt the principles of the unitarian school), that there are few, if any, individuals who have embraced our author's views of human nature, to whom, if we are to judge by their spirit, temper, conduct, and conversation, those expressions of Scripture, which peculiarly designate the true followers of Jesus Christ appear manifestly to belong. What is the description given of these in the Bible? They are born of God;" they are "partakers of the Divine nature;"

See this subject treated at large, and distinguished ability, in Fuller's Work

66

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they do all in the name of the Lord Jesus;" "the mind is in them which was also in Christ Jesus;" "Christ is their life," "he dwells in their hearts by faith;" they are " filled with all joy and peace in believing," and "abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost;" "the love of Christ constrains them" to "live not to themselves, but unto him who died for them and rose again;" and "the life which they now live in the flesh they live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved them and gave himself for them;" "they are led by the Spirit," and "walk in the Spirit;" they "set their affections on things above;" "their conversation is in heaven, from whence also they look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus;" they count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ," &c. &c. Now while we confess, that, even of those whose professed principles on the point in question are the most consonant to what we believe to be the truth, there is but a small proportion to whom the above language can be fairly applied. We must also affirm, that it has been almost exclusively, if not solely, among such as profess those principles, that the few have been found with whose character the above delineations have corresponded? And the history of the church in all ages seems to us to prove, that those who have been most eminent for their piety, and for their progress in the divine life, have been proportionably distinguished by a deep and affecting sense of their own native corruption.

It may possibly be thought, by some of our readers, that we have been too severe on Dr. Rees, especially as to the last sermon which

we have noticed; inasmuch as he may not have intended to pass any strong censure on those advocates for the doctrine of our corruption who describe it in somewhat measured terms, and do not represent any portion of mankind as under an unavoidable sentence of reprobation. We are most willing to concede to Dr. Rees, that the depravity of man ought not to be confounded, as it sometimes is, with that of devils, and that we possess some natural sense (though it is a most imperfect one) of good and evil. We also admit, or rather we contend, that man is a voluntary agent. Nor have we much objection to what he says, in the body of this discourse, of the moral principles of man; a term by which he seems principally to mean that he is a responsible creature, and has faculties 'capable of being applied to religious and moral uses, leaving in a great measure untouched the question whether he so applies them. Still we affirm, and we do it in the language of our church, that he is " very far gone from original righteousness," and that he has no power to do good works, without the grace of God both preventing and working with him.-To the doctrine of the inability of man, we would, however, apply exactly the same remark which we made in speaking of his corruption: it is not to be contemplated alone. Are we all guilty, and "under the curse of the law?" "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us." Are we weak? "The Spirit helpeth our infirmities." "When we are weak, then are we strong." "We can do all things through Christ, that strengtheneth us." A compensatory doctrine is supplied in both cases, and care undoubtedly should be taken not to destroy, or even weaken, its efficacy, by our manner of interpreting and applying it.-We further allow, that antinomianism, as well as enthusiasm, may have been spread in many quarters through a

rash, and somewhat erroneous, mo of proclaiming the very doctrin for which we so strenuously conten Dr. Rees, therefore, if he had i mited his animadversions, migh have had our thanks; but his lar guage extends itself to the ma both of orthodox dissenters, and those whom we deem the sound an orthodox members of our church He also does not sufficiently cons der that a certain portion of enthu siasm, and even of speculative an tinomianism, may be detected i persons who, on the whole, are sub jects for approbation rather tha censure. We have found ourselve repeatedly called upon to defend th more general character of tha large and mixed body of men wh are now commonly called the evan gelical world (comprehending no only the evangelical churchman but the evangelical dissenter and methodist), whose faults, neverthe less, we have deemed it to be no less our duty occasionally to poin out. The question between us and the adversaries of this body has been, not, as those adversaries as sume, whether enthusiasm or antinomianism ought to be encouraged. but whether certain persons among them who may be tinctured with these faults, and some of them, s we trust, but slightly, should not be sheltered from the violence of their enemies:-and whether, also, the evangelical body, to which indeed some of the wildest of our sectaries can scarcely be said to belong. ought not to be upheld, and even highly accredited, on the ground of the unquestionable piety of their general character, and the pre-eminent usefulness of their labours. We trust that we have shewn, in the course of the present paper, that we can perceive what is worthy of approbation even in those separatists who are of the unitarian party, and can exercise candour towards them; but surely we may be allowed also to indulge our charitable feelings towards those men who depart from us in a contrary direction,

and evidently partake of an enthu-" siastic and even antinomian spirit. We wish to be cautious how we pass an universal judgment on the mass either of our enthusiasts or unitarians; there is among them both, as we suspect, far more diversity of individual character than is commonly imagined. We can discover some things worthy to be imitated in men of both classes. We would, with all fairness, as well as kindness of spirit, present to the view of both the principles of our church, which we conceive at once to be those of Scripture, and to constitute the true centre of union. Dr. Rees is a friend to unity; but he suggests, as his means of promoting it, that men whose religious opinions are, as we think, not a little discordant, should agree to differ. We dare not imitate his liberality, if it may be so called, in this particular; but considering that all Christians are subject to the same authority of Scripture, and are also under the guidance of the same blessed Spirit, we would rather exhort them to think the same things," and to aim to be as much as possible "of one heart and of one mind," after the example of the first believers. "There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all:" let us then be ambitious that we may all come in the unity of the same Spirit, and in the knowledge of the same Son of God," unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." A right to exercise a diversity of judgments in respect to questions which concern the divinity of the Son of God, is not one of the points in which our Christian liberty consists. Let us not "be carried away by divers and strange doctrines, after the rudiments of this world, and not after Christ." Let s be careful especially to "hold the Head," by whom every joint is supplied, and aspire to be made "complete in Him, in whom dwelleth all the falness of the Godhead bodily."

Poems on the Abolition of the Slave Trade; written by JAMES MONTGOMERY, JAMES GRAHAME, and E. BENGER. Embellished with engravings from Pictures painted by R. Smirke, Esq. Printed for R. Bowyer, the Proprietor. London: 1809. 4to. pp. 141.

THE poet of the Eneid, in closing his splendid description of the triumphant combat of Hercules with the monster Cacus, mentions the transports with which the peasants of the country thronged together, to gaze on the lifeless limbs and extinguished strength of their once dreaded enemy. Nequeunt expleri corda tuendo; or, as the truly Virgilian translator of Virgil expresses it ;

« The wond'ring neighbourhood with glad surprise

Behold his shaggy breast, his giant size, His mouth that flames no more, and his extinguish'd eyes." The force which, in its living exercise, was viewed with such alarm, or felt so painfully, now becomes an interesting object of examination. Each member, too, of the group delights to recount to his neighbour, and with the minuteness of a mind relieved from fear, some instance of those destructive ravages which, at the time of their perpetration, were told of only in shricks of anguish, or in the half-stifled and incoherent accents of consternation. Nor are voices wanting to celebrate the monster's fall, and to extol the prowess which has achieved it. The gratitude of a delivered people breaks forth in songs of praise to the conqueror; and choirs of eulogists are formed,

qui carmine laudes Herculeas et facta ferant."

Feelings somewhat similar to these may be presumed to have given being to the publication before us. When the trade in men-a monster more terrible than the fiercest of the destroyers who fell victims to Herculean might-was finally condemned by the legislature of the

nation most intimately concerned in the support of its abominations, it was natural for all the friends of humanity and justice to meet together and to rejoice in unison. It was natural for all who felt for their brethren of mankind, in whatever latitudes situated, as for themselves -who felt for the honour of their country as for their own honourto review with interested attention the tremendous proportions and horrid energy of the iniquity that had just been overthrown; and to celebrate, in concert, the heroes of an exploit more glorious than the most splendid of the fabled conquests of Hercules: the victory, not of force over force, but of philanthropy, conscience, reason, and religion, over bigotry, folly, avarice, barbarity, and impiety.

Of late, indeed, it grieves us to say, this system of atrocity, extinct as it was supposed to be, has exhibited some signs of reviviscence, which we cannot observe without the greatest uneasiness. Painfully anticipating its possible revival under circumstances which this country may be unable to controul, we want, we confess, that repose of mind on the subject, which is necessary to a reader of poetry, and which, had the work before us appeared immediately after the abolition, we should have brought to the perusal of it. At the same time, we baye the satisfaction to think, that much of what was done has been effectually done; and, un der the favour of Providence, the ground which yet remains may, by dint of exertion, soon be gained. We therefore do not altogether deny our hearts and sympathy to the song of triumph which the authors before us have caused to be sounded in our

publisher from applying to them on the occasion, or the application from being successful; and there is certainly here enough to gratify even those who may view the subject with less interest than it has always excited in the conductors of the Christian Observer.

The volume is very properly dedicated to the illustrious Patron, and to the Directors of the African Institution. The poems which it contains are three: the first entitled, "The West Indies, a Poem in four Parts," by Mr. Montgomery; the second, Africa delivered, or the Slave Trade abolished," by Mr. Grahame; the third, simply Poem occasioned by the Abolition of the Slave Trade," by Mr. Benger.*

"A

Mr. Montgomery is a write known, as we presume, to many o our readers by some poems of hi publication; but to a still greate number of them, we are afraid, by a critique which a volume of his poetry drew from a distinguished popular journal. The proscriptions however, of this journal, which with a sharpness worthy of its own, has been happily described as "an occasionally able and uniformly abusive work," have now become so general, that they seem no longer to be regarded as conclusive; and the ridicule which it flung on Mr. Montgomery, though in some respects well directed, has not, we conceive materially affected his credit with those who were previously acquainted with his works. The style of this poet, indeed, we consider to be ex

*We have said Mr. Benger; but E. Ben ger, which is all that this publication say of the writer in question, may be the name of a lady. As, in such a case of doubt, the ambiguous person ought to be supposed

the nobler sex, we besitated, from a feeling of gallantry, before we assigned our own t E. Benger. But, foreseeing that, if we da

otherwise, we should be exposed to a in: ther perplexity between Mrs. and Miss Ben

ger, we suffered our indolence to decide ti

question. For which offence we hereb apologise to all our fair readers.

actly of that sort, which is apt to provoke much more ridicule than it deserves. It is not a style content with safe correctness. It hazards much, and consequently we need not wonder that it not seldom fails, and sometimes, perhaps, fails lamentably. But he must be either a very ill-natured or a very silly observer, who, in criticism, or in any other pursuit whatever, busies himself in counting and exposing the failures of a generous ambition, without the slightest notice of its more successful efforts. That Mr. Montgomery, with all his faults, possesses much power both of conception and of versification, every candid judge will allow; nor, indeed, is it at all derogatory of his genius as a poet, to say, what we have already intimated, that his errors are on the side of excess, or, in Horatian language, that they are rather vitia than calpe.--Some specimens of his talents we shall now adduce.

The exordium of the poem strikes usas happily uniting conciseness and spirit.

"Thy chains are broken, Africa, be free!' Thus saith the island-empress of the sea; Thus saith Britannia.-O ye winds and waves!

Waft the glad tidings to the land of slaves; Proclaim on Guinea's coast, by Gambia's side,

And far as Niger rolls his eastern tide Though radiant realms beneath the buming zone,

Where Europe's curse is felt, her narazo un

known,

'Thus saith Britannia, empress of the sea, Tay chains are broken, Africa, be free!" P. 1.

In the following sketch of the early exploits of the Spaniards in the Western world, there is coniderable energy:

"A rabid race, fanatically bold, And steel'd to cruelty by lost of gold, Invers'd the waves, the unknown world explor'd.

The cross their standard, but their faith the sword;

her steps were graves; death track'd

where'er they trod; They worshipp'd Mammon while they vow'd to God." p. 5. CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 93.

It may be remarked, however, of this passage, that the last line but one contains a repetition worse than superfluous. "Death track'd where'er they trod" is not only an echo, but a feeble echo, of the bold, perhaps questionably bold, enunciation of the same sentiment in the words "Their steps were graves."

Mr. Montgomery can be pathetic as well as vigorous. In a description of the national mind of this country relenting towards Africa, we have the following lines.

"High on her rock, in solitary state, Sublimely musing, pale Britannia sate; Her awful forehead on her spear reclin'd, Her robe and tresses streaming with the wind;

Chill through her frame foreboding treinors crept;

The Mother thought upon her Sons, and

wept:

-She thought of Nelson in the battle slain,
And his last signal beaming o'er the main
In Glory's circling arms the hero bled,
While Victory bound the laurel on his head;
At once immortal, in both worlds, became
His soaring spirit, and abiding uame:
-She thought of Pitt, heart-broken, on hijs
bier;

And O my Country!' echoed in her ear:
-She thought of Fox;-she heard him