is dubious, unnecessary to be decided, or of very subordinate importance, and what is most obscure, will teach us to bear with the opinions which others may have formed upon the same subject. We shall say to those who the most widely dissent from us, what Augustine said to the worst heretics of his age-They rail against us, who O know not with what labour Truth is found and Errors to be avoided!" At the same time it has been pertinently remarked, that "to reject the gospel because bad men pervert it, and weak men deform it, and angry men quarrel about it and bigoted men look sour on others, and curse them because they do not agree in every title with themselves, displays the same folly as if a person should cut down a tree bearing abundance of delicious fruit, and furnishing a refreshing shade, because caterpillars disfigured the leaves, and spiders made their webs among the branches !" Individuals who are conversant with the deistical controversy, must percieve that unbelievers are intent on attacking the corruptions and abuses of Revealed Religion. But facts cannot be denied. The Credibility of the Gospel, by the accurate and laborious Lardner, together with his Jewish and Heathen Testimonies, sets at nought the stormy blusterings and bitter revilings of modern infidelity. The vagaries of fanaticism, as well as the follies of superstition, ever have, and ever will excite the contempt of men of understanding. These are the aliment of unbelief. Christ and his Apostles are those whom the humble disciple will follow. The New Testament is the Magna Charta of our Christian profession. There and there alone we look for the doctrines we must believe, the precepts we must observe, and the institutions we must celebrate, imitating the consummately perfect example left us by the Author and Finisher of our faith, with a persevering and indefatigable fidelity :-- In his blest life I see the path, and in his death the price, And in his great ascent the proof supreme One trait in the conduct of unbelievers is deserving of special reprehension. In assailing Revealed Religion they put forth their objections, as if they were perfectly new, and had never been urged on any former occasion. This is disingenuous in the extreme. The fact is that nothing fresh can be started on the subject. The same monotonous tone of complaint has been continued from Celsus and Porphyry down to the present times. And what is most unfair, no notice is taken of the reiterated replies which have been made to these objections. Each Deist has had his respective answerers. No labour has been spared, no erudition has been left unemployed, to set their querulous disposition at rest. Newton and Locke, Lardner and Priestley, Leland and Paley, Watson and Porteus, have done every thing necessary to elucidate the genius,and establish the truth of Christianity.† Supposing, after all, that some difficulties remain which are inexplicable,ought this circumstance to shake your faith or excite astonishment? This, indeed, is nothing but what might be expected in this present state of being. The abstruse nature of certain theological topics, and the narrowness of our intellectual vision, will account for this phenomenon. Are the appearances of nature fully explained, or the intricacies of science altogether developed? We are encompassed with wonders. And why should religion be expected to be devoid of difficulties? *To the honour of the age, the works of Dr. Nathaniel Lardner have been recently published, in five volumes quarto, price ten guineas. Catholics and Churchmen and Dissenters, together with Unbelievers themselves, Morgan and Gibbon, have rendered "this prince of divines" the tribute of respect due to his industry, while they applaud his incorruptible integrity. + See "Leland's View of the Deistical Writers, " a work of research and consummate utility. "Bishop Butler's Analogy" also is a volume characterised by the profoundest reasoning, and has never been noticed by the sons of infidelity. The style, indeed, is rugged; but the work contains a rich mine of sentiment, which will repay the closest attention that the young reader may bestow upon it. The antiquity of the Sacred Writings, the diversity of their contents, the mutability of languages, ancient as well as modern, and the prejudices of education, will cause that motley variety of opinion that characterizes the professing world. But, blessed be God? "the rent has not reached the foundation;" whilst this dissonance is at once the ground, as well as motive, for the exercise of Christian charity. Finally, Christian brethren-thus it is that a series of well-attested facts relative to the birth, death and sufferings of a crucified, but ultimately triumphant Messiah, generating devotion towards God and benevolence towards man, constitutes the soul of Revealed Religion. "We have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eye-witnesses of his majesty." In a word, the Christianity of the New Testament is impregnable and imperishable! It is indeed, a pyramid, whose base covers the earth-whose summit penetrates the skies, and upon whose sides stands enrolled, in illumined characters, legible to all the inhabitants of the globe “THE WAGES OF SIN IS DEATH, BUT THE GIFT OF GOD IS ETERNAL LIFE THROUGH OUR LORD JESUSCHRIST!" The following valuable works have been published in behalf of Revealed Religion, since the last edition of the "Sketch." 1. "Vindicia Christianæ," a comparative estimate of the genius and temper of the Greek, the Roman, the Hindu, the Mahometan, and the Christian Religions, by the Rev. Jeerome Alley, LL.B., M.R.I.A., an Irish Episcopalian. 2. "A Comparative View of Christianity, and of the other forms of religion which have existed and still exist in the world, particularly with regard to their moral tendency, "by Wm. Laurence Brown, D.D., Principal of Marischal College, Aberdeen, a Presbyterian of the Kirk of Scotland, 3. "Comparison of Heathenism, Mahometanism and Hinduism, with Christianity," by W. B. Collyer, D. D., the last of a series of Lecturers delivered at Salters Hall. Thus an Episcopalian, Presbyterian, and Independent, unite hand and hand to arrest the progress of infidelity. -Besides these productions, there are two admirable pamphlets. 1." The Historical Evidences of Christianity unaassailable," by J. R. Beard, Unitarian MinisterManches ter. 2. "A Discourse on the Evidences of Revealed Religion," delivered in the University of Cambridge, at the Dudleian Lecture, March 14, 1821, by William Ellery Channing, D. D., Minister of the Congregational Church. Boston, New England.-Sold by Hunter, St. Paul's Churchyard, London. From a survey of these publications, it appears that, dowered or undowered, there are not wanting able and impressive defences of Christianity, and the Rev. William Jay, of Bath, has happily delineated in his Twelve Lectures, the obligations, duties, and prospects of the Christian in his progress from Earth towards Heaven. SKETCH OF THE DENOMINATIONS, &c. &c. Having given this preliminary account of Atheism, Deism, Theophilanthropism, Judaism, Mahometanism, and Christianity, I proceed to the denominations of the Christian world. In the first ages of Christianity there were various sects, which have long ago sunk into oblivion, and whose names exist only in the pages of ecclesiastical history. It is not my purpose even to glance at these ancient sects, but only to notice those which in the present day attract our attention. The most distinguished may be included under the following three-fold arrangement: Opinions respecting the person of Christ; respecting the means and measure of God's favour; and respecting Church government, and the administration of ceremonies. 1. OPINIONS RESPECTING THE PERSON OF CHRIST. Jesus Christ being the medium by which the Deity hath imparted a knowledge of his will to mankind, the person of Christ has been investigated, and the nature of God rendered the subject of rude and unhallowed controversy. This has filled the religious world with contentions, nor are they likely to be brought to a termination. In the mean time, it would become us to discuss this topic with modesty and humility. It is, however, my present province to state the existing opinions respecting this abstruse subject; it shall be done in a few words, and I hope with accuracy. |