and compass of his learning-his enlightened views of the kingdom of Christ-his laborious research and indefatigable industry-his warm attachment to the doctrines of divine grace, and his ardent zeal for the glory of his God and Saviour. In a word, though his style wants the graces of modern refinement, we have no hesitation in saying, that no theological library can by any means be regarded as complete, in which the works of Dr. Owen are not to be found. the more we are struck with the extent | volume; it exhibits a glow of manly eloquence; is never tiresome, but abounds with striking thoughts and pious reflections. The soul is first considered as in a state of composition, or as united with the body; and secondly, in a state of separation from the body.. And under the latter head, when he comes to treat of "the spirits of just men made perfect," he carries the mind of the reader with him into the world of spirits, and makes him forget for the time that he is an inhabitant of earth. A great number of very curious and interesting questions come under discussion in the course of the work, which we have not room to particularize, and in discussing which the reader will be often struck with the ingenuity and acuteness of the author in his way of handling them; but what strongly recommends the volume to us is this, that while the faculties of the mind, he brings every author gives full scope to the discursive thing to the touchstone of Revelationvery wisely judging, that the Being who formed us, is the most competent to instruct us respecting the nature of our souls, and all that pertains to them. Pneumatologia: a Treatise on the Soul of Man. By JOHN FLAVEL, formerly Minister of Dartmouth, in Devon. A new edition, with a Life of the Author. London, W.Jones, Lovell's-court, 8vo. pp. 460, pr. 9s. bds. 1824. THIS is, beyond all dispute, a book of great value, and worthy the attention of every thinking being. It was, therefore, with great propriety, selected by the late Dr. Williams, of Rotherham, as one of the works intended to form an Evangelical Library, along with Edwards's History of Redemption, &c. &c. and which he undertook to edit, and accompany with occasional notes. The subject on which it treats comes home to every man's business and bosom, and the Author has managed it throughout with a skilful hand. We are well aware, indeed, that if we can listen to the teaching of modern Socinians, we shall think very diminutively of the subject of this volume; for, according to their wise way of thinking, man has no soul: he is a pure compound of matter, without any vital, spiritual principle inherent in him distinct from the body; and that which we call the soul or spirit is nothing more than the power of thinking and acting, which results from the peculiar organization of the particles of matter of which the human frame consists. Mr. Flavel was of a very different mind; and, perhaps, the doctrine of Materialism never received a more complete confutation from the pen of any writer, than it has done in this volume, though it formed no part of the author's design to examine and confute that system, which in fact was little, if at all, known in his day. There is, in our opinion, a wonderful richness of sentiment pervading the An Elegy to the Memory of the late Rev. Henry Martyn; with Smaller Pieces. By JOHN LAWSON, Missionary at Calcutta. London, F. Westley, 10, Stationers'-court, pp. 50, pr. 2s. 6d. 1823. FEW of our readers, we presume, are unacquainted with the name and character of Henry Martyn. He was a native of Truro, in Cornwall, and in the year 1805, went out to India as a Missionary, in the service of the CHURCH Missionary Society-to which work he devoted himself most unreservedly. After labouring in his Lord's service about seven years, his feeble constitution, unable to sustain the fatigues to which he was exposed, and the sultry climes of Hindostan, he breathed his last at Trocat, on the 16th of October, 1812, either falling a sacrifice to the plague which then raged there, or sinking under the effects of a fever with which he had been afflicted. Many of our friends may recollect the handsome tribute which was paid to his memory by the late Mr. Ward, of Seram. pore, on his first arrival among us at the Anniversary Meeting of the Baptist Missionary Society, after a Sermon in LAWSON'S ELEGY-LIFE OF BRAINERD. the Queen-street Chapel, Long Acre. For our own parts, we shall never forget it; it discovered so much genuine candour and honesty, that it won our affections to Mr. Ward, and we always loved him afterwards. Many of you," said he, "imagine that all the good which has been done in India, has been done by the Baptists; but that is quite a mistake the most successful Missionary that has yet appeared in India, was HENRY MARTYN!" Mr. Lawson is equally candid and liberal, in awarding to the Memory of Henry Martyn the meed due to his disinterested labours, and calls upon his readers to lament with him his premature decease. There rests a child of genius, early fall'n; A hero, for he smil'd at death, Several of the minor pieces in this Have had their influence; but the day, A dream which is not-but hath been. Saints rest upon their quiet bed, The hollow wild eyes dim and dry O weep not that the weary day This little volume is embellished with a fine Portrait of Henry Martyn, and a beautiful vignette title-page, representing the angels as sorrowing over the tomb of Martyn, while they are surveying it by moon-light. 253 The Life of the Rev. David Brainerd, Missionary to the Indians, from the Society in Scotland, for propagating Christian Knowledge, who died at Northampton, in New England, Oct. 9th. 1747, in the 30th year of his age. By JOHNATHAN EDWARDS, A.M. Presi dent of the College of New Jersey. Edinburgh: printed for H. S. Baynes & Co. and Baynes & Son, London, pp. 560. 18mo. pr. 5s. bds. 1824. In this day of Missionary exertion, when the Lord hath put it into the hearts of his people to evangelize the whole world, and a spirit is gone forth, which we trust will not subside until the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God, we have great pleasure in meeting with a new edition of Pr. Edwards's Life of Brainerd, issued from the press, with typographical neatness, on superior paper, and at less than half the price of the octavo edition. This is rendering an acceptable service to the cause of missions, and we have no doubt that the religious part of the community will appreciate it as such. Not only should every missionary have a copy of the book, but its circulation at home, by our various missionary societies ought to be encouraged, since few works are better calculated to excite pious minds to missionary labours, and thus call forth labourers into the harvest. Brainerd's career was short, but it was brilliant his missionary labours scarcely extended to five years, 1743 to 1747, when his feeble tenement gave way, and a pining consumption cut short his days at the age of thirty! But the work is too well known, and, we may add, too highly esteemed, to render any eulogium from us at all necessary. A Scripture Manual; or, a Plain Representation of the Ordinance of Baptism; designed for the use of all who would answer a Good Conscience towards God, and give a reason of their Faith and Practice, with Meekness and Fear. By SAMUEL WILSON. To which are subjoined various extracts from learned Pedobaptist Authors. The whole revised by the late Mr. ABRAHAM BOOTH, A new Edition. London, W. Jones, Lovell's Court, Paternoster Row, 36 pp. 18mo. pr. 4d. 28s. per 100, 1824. WE presume that most of our readers are acquainted with this valuable little piece, which has often been printed; and, indeed, for the sake of the cause of truth, ought never to be out of print. The worthy author was trained up in the principles of Pædobaptism, but some doubts having crossed his mind as to the validity of that practice, he, instead of reading books of controversy, determined to read his New Testament for himself. He therefore carefully examined every text of Scripture which has a relation to the subject of baptism, and then submitted to the public, the result of the investigation. In the present very neat edition, the subjects are all specified in the running titles at the top of the page, such as, John's Baptism-The Baptism of Christ-Children brought to Christ-Infant Baptism considered Christ's Commission Three Thousand Baptised at Jerusalem -The Promise, Acts ii. 44. considered -Baptism of the Eunuch-of Cornelius-of Lydia, and the Jailor's Household-Households Baptised-Meaning of Baptism, 1 Cor. vii. 14. considered The Abrahamic Covenant-Rom. xi. 15, 16.—Exod. xiv.-1 Pet. iii. 20, 21, empire. The places described are Tripoli, Tyre, Sidon, the mountains of Lebanon, Damascus, Baalbec, or Pal myra, the ruins of which afford such a grand specimen of the magnificence of ancient architecture, Aleppo, the Valley of Salt, Scanderoon, Antioch, &c. &c. &c. The volume is embellished with a map of the country, with three plates, very neatly executed, and the whole well supports the character which we gave of the former volume. considered-Conclusion. There are so many prejudices still existing in the professing world, against the Saviour's institution of the baptism of believers, that such of his disciples as are instructed into his will on this first law of his kingdom, cannot well adopt a better method of removing them than by the distribution of this small tract. For simplicity of design, and excellency in the execution, it has, so far as we know, no superior, we had almost ventured to say, no equal. The Modern Traveller: A popular description, Geographical, Historical, and Topographical of the various countries of the globe. Vol. II. SYRIA and ASIA MINOR. London, James Duncan, 18mo. 5s. 6d. bds. 1824. WE announced the commencement of this popular work two months ago, and laid before our readers a Prospectus of what was intended in the execution of it. The volume before us, takes up the Geography, History, and Topography of Syria and Asia Minor, an interesting portion, at present, of the Turkish Lon Strictures on the Plymouth Antinomi- 營 nature of the Antichristian sentiments which he heard" delivered from the ders that Dr. Hawker is the oracle of pulpit. It is needless to tell my reathe Antinomian party in this country. The doctor employs a curate of the name of Babb, whose rant and extravagance appears to surpass that of his Rector or Vicar; and to complete the trio, he has a son, who has recently taken holy orders, and occupies a pulpit in the neighbourhood of Plymouth, who yields to neither his father, nor his father's curate in the grossness of his statements. While attending on the preaching of these men, Mr. Cottle committed to writing, certain portions of their sermons, which he has laid before his readers, accompanied by such animadversions as they appear to him to require. The following is an extract from one of the Doctor's sermons, and our readers will receive it as a specimen of the whole: er uno disce omnes. "We hear a great deal about Redemption in this day of profession, from one instructor and another, but when do you hear the church carried beyond time into By the way, we can hardly sympathise with Mr. Cottle, under his sufferings on this occasion. He could not be ignorant of the unscriptural tenets of Dr. Hawker; Why then did he go near him? cannot plead that there were no Christian societies in Plymouth,with whom he might meet comfortably. There are few towns in the kingdom, in which the cup of Gospel privilege is better replenished than in Plymouth. Mr. Wilcocks, Mr. Nicholson, Mr. Horton, are ministers of his own persuasion, (Baptists) and yield to few in the kingdom for talent. He was therefore under no temptation to wander as he did! He COTTLE'S STRICTURES. the everlasting settlements of eternity?Where do you hear of these things?-All the world is running mad.-The Epistles of the apostles are directed to the church, and not to the world.-The church that 255 that characterizes this class of ministers. There are certainly much worse things occasionally interspersed throughout Mr. Cottle's pages, but they are too gross for us to transcribe. The readers of our Magazine will easily perceive that the whole is a caricature of the primitive apostolic gospel, a mere rhapsody in which truth and error are jumbled together without discrimination. Thus it is, that by dealing out great swelling words of vanity about eternal counsels, an eternal covenant, and eter which, the Scriptures are silent, and of which the preacher consequently knows nothing, he manages to impose first upon himself, and then upon the ignorant multitude who follow him, and who look up with wonder and amazement at their leader's profound acquaintance with such deep subjects. "Tis dumb amaze and listning silence all." lives from one eternity to another!-You are the delight of God.-The Lord hath never writ a bill of divorcement against his church. We can fall no more; the church is safe.-All books might be burnt if we have found Christ.-What is grace? Grace is the Lord himself. We cannot grow in the Lord.-The Lord, in calling one and another amongst you, is performing a greater work than creating a thou-nal union, &c. &c. things, concerning sand worlds. It is said, Grow in grace.' Ignorant preachers don't understand this, and misinterpret it. What says Paul? Paul had no experience of progressive holiness. Twenty-three years after his conversion, he said, 'O wretched man that I am.' I will tell you when God began to love his church-when God himself began! It is beautiful to see how God has loved the church, in their time's state, from generation to generation. A sixth finger shall as soon be added to my hand, as there shall one other member be added to the body of Christ. Who shall dare to add to the body of Christ? The Lord had a people before his incarnation.-God is not constrained by merit, nor restrained by demerit. My brethren, the Lord knows the names of all his little ones.-God shows grace in defiance of our deserving it.-God will not suffer your vile bodies to be subdued ?-I would not be without these workings of corruption for all the world!I have no more fear of death than I have of life.-Sin cannot sting me, it is taken away.-I am as sure of going to heaven as I am of resting after the labours of this day. The church of God is as safe on earth as the church of God in heaven.-We shall have no more nuptials. Shall the gospel mercies be put up to the highest bidder? Oh! no, no, no, no.-The Son of God hath married the church to all eternity.-No one event can take place that was not ordained. Not death, nor sin, nor the grave can disturb our union with Christ. -We are married to Christ from everlast-I ing-Little saints, and great saints are equally acceptable to Christ. Small faith is sufficient. You calculate too much on what has been done in your own hearts, not what has been done from all eternity, those great antiquities. We do not remember the original settlements of eternity. If there are but two or three of the called in this congregation, they are the church. They will be safe when the whole lump beside will be burnt." We imagine this to be a tolerably fair specimen of the usual style of preaching vile jargon of this man; but we are For our own parts, we never heard the reminded of an ingenious gentleman whose company we often were cast in days of yore. He was particularly fond of a hoax, and would sometimes sport them in trying how far he could impose upon the ignorance of the company in which he was cast. Thus he would tell them he could demonstrate the doctrine of the Trinity, by the principles of mathematics, all the cramp terms of which he had at his fingers' ends. Thus placing his finger upon the table, he would begin with a point. Having commenced operations, he would proceed for half an hour with all the volubility of Dr. Hawker, dealing out his curves and squares, his sigus and his tangents, his angles and triangles, and we know not what besides; and when he had completely bothered the whole company, he would, with philosophic gravity, stop short and appeal to them," There now: have not made it perfectly clear and plain to you?" It is really a subject of deep regret, that multitudes of our fellow-creatures should be carried away with this unscriptural system, if system it may be called. How happy is our case in having the law and the testimony, to which trying the spirits whether they be of we can continually have recourse, in God, knowing that many false prophets are gone out into the world. WE are told by the biographers of Johnson, that when he first published anonymously, his poem entitled "London," it got into the hands of Pope, who on reading it, exclaimed, "The author, whoever he is, will not be long concealed." We were reminded of this anecdote, by running through this volume of "Recollections," in which we have met with so much to interest and delight us, that though we cannot flat ter the author with the hope of dividing the world with the great "Caliban of literature," yet we scruple not to say, that we discern it in the germ of future excellence. The volume is exceedingly miscellaneous: we have pieces in prose and verse and the latter in English, Latin, and Greek. We have academical exercises in Natural Philosophy, Metaphysics, History, Ethics, &c. &c. And surely it is no small proof of genius in a Tyro, that he can write well in each of these. We should very much like, could we find room, to present our readers with a fair specimen of the author's composition in each of these departments of literature, but we must deny ourselves the pleasure, and rest contented with recommending the volume to the notice of our readers. The poem, "On the Immortality of the Soul," has many vigorous lines, and, what is not of less value, many just and fine sentiments. ART. I. Village Library. No 1. Lives of the Rev. Dr. Cotton Mather, of Boston, New England. By Dr. Jennings, and the Rev. Joseph Alleine, A.B. of Taunton, Somerset, by his widow and other persons. Edinburgh, Waugh & Innes, and James Duncan, London, 18mo. 250 pp. pr. 2s. 6d. ART. II. The Spirit of Prayer, by Nathaniel Vincourt, A.M. Minister of the Gospel, with Extracts on the same subject from the works of Barratt, Hannah More, D. Willison, J. Bowdler, Esq. J. Shepherd, Esq. and J. Haldam Stewart. Edinburgh, Waugh & Innes, and F. Westley, London, 18mo. 220 pp. pr. 2s bds. 1824. IN most of the villages of England and Scotland, societies of Christians are now formed, and it is of great importance that those who are called to labour among them in the work of the ministry, should inculcate among the members a spirit of reading and enquiry.. With a view to the accommodation of this class of readers, the works which it is intended to publish under the title of the Village Library, will be selected. The two little volumes now before us, are designed as a specimen, and we recommend them to the attention of our readers as well adapted to the purpose. They are well printed on good paper, and offered at a moderate price. If the Editor explores the records of the seventeenth century, he will find among the writings of the Puritans, a great number of very valuable tracts, rich in devotional sentiment and christian experience, which are highly deserving of being rescued from oblivion; and in doing which, he will become a benefactor to the present, and indeed to future generations. LITERARY NOTICES. Just Published. The Works of the late SAMUEL STENNETT, D.D. now first collected, in 3 vols. Svo. to which is prefixed, an Essay on his Life and Writings, by WILLIAM JONES. The Miscellaneous Works of the late JOHN FAWCETT, D.D. Author of the Devotional Family Bible; with a Sketch of his Life and Portrait, in one vol. 12mo. Hymns for Public Worship, collected and arranged, by THOMAS WILCOCKS, of Devonport. DORE, of Walworth. A new edition. Letters on Faith. By the Rev. JAMES An Essay on the Resurrection of Christ. By the same Author. A new edition. Lord Byron's Works, viewed in connection with Christianity, and the Obligations of Social Life: a Sermon delivered in Holland Chapel, Kennington, July 4th, 1824. By the Rev. JOHN STYLES, D.Ø. In the Press. The Preacher, or Sketches of Original Sermons. Vol. VII. and VIII. being the concluding volumes. Proofs of the Truth of Christianity, from the Old Testament Scriptures, and the Writings of the Cabbalists. By M. Mayers. Memoirs of the Rose: comprising Botanical, Poetical, and Miscellaneous Recollections of that celebrated Flower. In a Series of Letters to a Lady. In one vol. royal 18mo, elegantly printed. |