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Review.-Simpson's Two Essays.

But, waving this argument, how can we prove that the religion of Jesus has produced more ill effects than good ones? In ecclesiastical as well as civil history, the baneful consequences of pride, ambition, and other evil passions are most dwelt upon. When peace and its attendant blessings prevail, these are not usually thought by historians to be subjects sufficiently interesting to engage the public regard. Now a computation, the truth and exactness of which is beyond the limit of human faculties to ascertain, cannot be a proper ground of human judgement and action. As to the allegation that a doctrine communicated by God for the best of purposes, can never be the occasion of iniquity in any instance, the principle which this objection assumes, namely, that a divine Law or plan for the general good can be accompanied with any partial evil, is contradicted by the whole course of nature and Providence. To say that religion is not a restraining motive, because it does not always restrain, is equally absurd as to say, that the civil laws are not a restraining motive '* Even Lord Bolingbroke has confessed the futility of this charge. Indeed, nothing can be more palpably unjust than to ascribe any consequence to a cause which has the strongest genuine tendency to prevent it. Yet whoever accuses the gospel of producing vice of any kind, adopts this false mode of reasoning. And no argument can be properly drawn from the conduct of the professors of any religion, either for or against the religion itself, unless the conduct naturally flows from its principles.

This is an abstract of Mr. Simpson's Essay on the Effects of Christianity. On a subject so often and so amply discussed, novelty was not to be ex pected. The author's reasoning is distinguished however by perspicuity, elegance, precision, correctness of method, extent of information and un. affected candour. In a small compass he has presented us with the substance of many bulky volumes: and he employs no other weapons against the opponents of the gospel than such as are congenial with its mild and gentle spirit, which he seems fully to have imbibed. His design and plan re

* Montesquieu's Spicit of Laws, b. 24. chap. 2.

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quired him to discuss some objections of unbelievers rather than represent at large "the beneficial effects of Christianity on the temporal concerns of mankind:" these are "proved from history and from facts," in a tract of the late Bishop Porteus which bears that title,

As a specimen of our author's manner, we extract his remarks on a sentence in the History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire:

By the industry and zeal of the Europeans, Christianity has been widely diffused to the most distant shores of Asia and Africa and, by the means of their colonies, has been firmly established from Canada to Chili, in a world unknown to the ancients,' Gibbon's Decl. and Fall, &c. Ch. xxv. p.

535.t

"This observation of Mr. Gibbon was

made long before the formation of the British and Foreign Bible Society; an institution by means of which the Christian Scriptures have been most rapidly and generally distributed throughout the earth. The very idea of forming a plan for disseminating those best instructions in pure religion and good morals that were ever delivered, to all nations of men, in their own respective languages, derives its origin from the gospel. It is the natural effect of that enlargement of that universal benevolence which is a of mind which Christianity produces, and characteristic feature of it. What more effectual means could have been employed for the speedy and universal diffusion of truth, righteousness and piety in the world; for refining and exalting the human character to its highest perfection; and for promoting the purest happiness of mankind in general, both in the present, and in the future life?" (39.)

We shall next attend to Mr. Simpson's thoughts "on the nature and obligation of the patriarchal, the Jewish and the Christian Sabbath." He appeals to Gen. ii. 2, 3, as "a positive law given to the first parents of our race," with the view of determining

the fixed periods of time at which mankind should statedly join together" in divine worship. Against this "positive evidence" it would be irrational to place the conjecture that Moses might have inserted the above order for sanctifying the seventh day, when he wrote the book of Genesis, as a reason for his giving a similar conmand to the Israelites; especially as

This reference is incorrect: at least, so far as concerns the chapter, which should be xv, the first paragraph. Rev.

he seems evidently to have formed his narrative in 'general according to the series of events." From other considerations also we may fairly infer that he has recorded the precept in the just order of transactions, and at the period of the history in which it was given.

In our author's judgment, "there can be no doubt, when we consider the general piety of the patriarchs, but that they obeyed the command to worship God every seventh day." It is true, the history "does not specify any particular instance of this," but the conciseness of the narratives of transactions in the earliest ages may easily be explained. Oral tradition would first be employed. Afterwards, when either hieroglyphical or alphabetical writing came into use, an insertion of particular instances of what was a regular practice would naturally be omitted. In subsequent parts of the Jewish annals, and for a very long period, there is no mention or intimation of the Sabbath. For a much longer space their sacred books are silent concerning the observance of the rite of circumcision, which unquestionably, continued to be practised. But "though there is no express account" of the regular appropriation of the seventh day to divine worship in the patriarchal ages, there are many passages that allude to, and imply such a custom. Such, in the opinion of some learned men, are Gen. iv. 3, and Job i. 6. ii. 1. Universal attention was paid in those early times to weeks of seven days and Mr. Simpson thence infers the high probability of men's having "habitually met for social worship on every seventh day." He is aware, indeed, that to the foregoing arguments may be objected what is said, (Nehem. ix. 13, 14.) "From Sinai thou madest known unto them thy holy sabbath." The Hebrew term here rendered to make known, he therefore translates as follows; didst manifest to them in a peculiar manner." And in this sense he also understands Exod. xvi. 29. "The Lord hath given you the Sabbath," and Ezek. xx. 12. Thus Christ says

Mr. Simpson refers here to Kennicott's Dissert. p. 156, ed. 2. The reference should have been to Kennicott's Two Dissert. &c. otherwise the Dissert. &c. may be confounded with those on the state of the Hebrew text.

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(John vii. 22) "that Moses gave them circumcision, though this rite was first instituted in the time of Abraham, Gen. xvii. 10." To this reasoning Mr. S. subjoins a review of the arguments by which he attempts to establish the existence of the patriarchal sabbath.

"The Hebrew Sabbath at the fall of Manna," is the subject to which he now proceeds. Express notice of " the actual observance of a seventh day's sabbath," occurs for the first time in Exod. xvi. 22, &c.

"It appears, however," says Mr. S. " to be mentioned as a well-known institution." This inference he deduces from the context.

Following the order of the history, he next treats of "the Jewish sabbath commanded at Mount Sinai.-Exod. xx. 8-11."; with which Deut. v. 12 -15. must be compared. On this article of the decalogue he observes, that, "though it is a ritual law, yet it is one of those ten select commandments which were first delivered by Jehovah himself, to all the people of Israel assembled together in the most solemn manner;" that "it is the only ritual ordinance in these tables" that "there are, however, ritual circumstances peculiar to the law for a weekly Sabbath as promulgated at this time; and that it was a special sign of the covenant between Jehovah and the Israelites. Hence it is noticed with singular distinction in the Mosaic law, is

introduced with the emphatical word, remember, and, in its nature and tendency, was a direct and powerful means of promoting the principal de signs of the Jewish dispensation; it being a memorial that the true God was the creator of all things, a mark of his having selected the posterity of Jacob for his own people, and, at once, a preservative from idolatry, and an instrument "of cherishing and improv ing the knowledge, love and practice of pure religion and virtue, both in individuals and in the community."

The most interesting section of this Essay, is devoted to the consideration of "the Christian Sabbath, or the Lord's day appointed by Christ and his apostles." Here Mr. S. makes some preliminary remarks, intended to Jesus, "as the great Messiah of God, prepare his readers for admitting that asserted his claim to a dominion over the sabbath." For the truth of this

Review. Simpson's Two Essays.

statement our author appeals to Matt. xii. 8. Mark ii. 28. Luke vi. 5; which texts he understands as referring specifically and exclusively to Christ. And he judges it inconsistent with the habitual prudence of our Lord to suppose that he would have frequently endangered his life, by correcting the abuses of the sabbath, if such an ordinance was to cease when the kingdom of the Messiah was established. Our Saviour, in the opinion of the Essayist, authorized his apostles to change the day on which it was kept from the seventh to the first day of the week. This he conceives him to have done after his resurrection, though the brief narratives of the evangelists do not particularize every single precept that our master gave relative to religion and morals, even before his crucifixion." The accounts of his instructions after his resurrection, are still more concise. He sometimes taught by symbolical actions, instead of giving verbal precepts. To this method he had recourse as to the sabbath day. For example, the Jews being habituated to instruction by visible representation, he chose, by the clear and decisive action of his repeated presence with his apostles at the time of their assembling on the day of his resurrection, the first day of the week, to authorize and countenance them in appointing and appropriating this particular day, instead of the Jewish Sabbath, on the seventh day, for the worship of God. There are passages in the New Testament which prove that it was so employed by the apostles and the earliest believers the most credible authors likewise bear testimony to the continuation of the practices of assembling on the first day of the week for public worship, and of then partaking in the Lord's Supper and making cha ritable collections for the indigent. Accordingly, this day was soon distinguished by the appellation of the Lord's day.

Towards the conclusion of the Essay, Mr. Simpson puts these questions, "Though there is no express verbal precept for a sabbath on the Lord's day, can arguments be found equally strong with those which have been produced, for the religious observance of any other day of the week by Christians? Are not these reasons sufficiently clear and powerful to sway the judgment and to direct the conduct?"

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He points out the valuable ends to be answered by such an observance of the day, corresponding with that on which Jesus, our Master, rose from the dead, and finishes his undertaking by a reply to the objection," that publie worship and rest from the common business of life one day in every seven, occasions such a frequent suspension of labour, as to injure both the rich and the poor." In a devotional and moral view "a discontinuance of regu lar public acts of Christian piety, and of public instruction from the scriptures" would be exceedingly injurious. "Nor would either individuals or the community derive any worldly advantage from the additional labour of the poor on the first day of the week." This position the enlightened author argues from a comparison of the general stock of labour with the rate of wages and from the average measure of human strength: his reasoning here, is highly satisfactory to us; and we cannot but pronounce it at once ingenious and convincing.

We are far more desirous of giving a faithful epitome of the sentiments of Mr. Simpson than of declaring and vindicating our own. So much however has been said and written on the subject of the latter of the essays contained in this pamphlet, that our readers will, probably, expect the present article of review to be something more than analytical.

For the most part, we agree in the conclusions of the worthy and judicious writer. But we have always hesitated, and still hesitate, to employ such language as The Christian SABBATH. The object of the investigation and controversy before us, is to ascertain whether a sabbatical institution be obligatory under the Gospel? Now it is not a little remarkable that, except in cases which refer, evidently and immediately, to the observance of the seventh day by the Jews, the word sabbath has no place in the New Testament. In this discussion no passage of Scripture is so important as Coloss. ii. 16. Let no man judge you in meat or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days!"

It becomes us to notice Mr. Simpson's translation of a sentence from Justin Martyr (Apol. 1st ed. Thirlby, p. 98). According to the Essayist, this father" aflirms that he observed the

SUNDAY SABBATH, &c." The words in the original are, την δε του ήλιου ήμεραν κοινή πανίες την συνελευσιν ποιούμεθα, κ. τ 入. In the 97th page Justin makes a statement to the saine effect. From neither of the passages do we learn that these early Christians observed the first day of the week sabbatically, but only that they then assembled for the purposes of social religious worship and instruction. Mr. S. therefore would, on re-consideration, have forborne to speak of the Sunday SABBATH.

This investigation, assuredly, is not unimportant; the different opinions of men concerning the proper result of it having a strong influence on their practice. We could wish to moderate between the contending parties; each of whom, we think, has somewhat mistaken the real nature of the question, and failed of doing justice to the views and reasonings of their antagonists. On the one hand, we plead for the consecration of no scanty por tion of the Lord's day to social worship, &c. on the other, we are of opinion that the strictly sabbatical observance of it is not enjoined by either the precepts or the spirit of Christianity. There is great force in the arguments brought by Mr. S. to establish the position that from an early period of the world mankind were in the habit of dedicating every seventh day more immediately to the public homage of the Creator: we are convinced that it was the custom of Christians in the apostolic age to assemble for this purpose on the first day of the week, or the Lord's day; and such is the nature of man, such the state of society, that, in Mr. Simpson's language, "the usual habits of labour and amusement on other days, if continued on a day appropriated to religious objects, would prevent or diminish the good effects of public devotion and instruction, by diverting the mind to a quite different train of ideas." These, we take leave to say, are our sentiments, and our practice is agree

able to them. At the same time, nothing which rests solely on deduction should be represented as a doctrine or institution of revealed religion: nor should he who observeth the Lord's day sabbatically, condemn him who in that manner observcth it not. If weight be allowed to names, we could enumerate some of highly respectable di

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vines who have declined to speak concerning the Christian SABBΑΤΗ!

Our readers will permit us to add, that J. D. Michachis looked on the Sabbath day as an ante-mosaical institution; yet believed that, among the Jews, and in its original purity, it was not intended to be a day of rigour.

In concluding this article, we must again offer our humble tribute of respect to the memory of the author of these Essays. Il pense et fait penser. He was himself a diligent inquirer after religious truth; and he excites and assists inquiry in others.

ART. II.-On the late Persecution of the Protestants in the South of France. By Helen Maria Williams. 8vo. pp. 62. Underwoods. 1816.

the title page is well known as HE lady whose name stands in an early advocate of the French Revolution. She has resided for many years at Paris, and may therefore be supfairs of France, and to be qualified to posed to take a lively interest in the afdescribe them correctly and to discuss Last year, she them satisfactorily. published a "Narrative of the Events which have lately taken place in that country," in which, to the surprise of every body, she stood forward the apologist and even panegyrist of the Bourbons. Some passage or passages were quoted from that work in a publication advertised in the English Newspapers, and referred to under the character of " H. M. Williams's Con. fession," meaning, we suppose, her allowing the existence, in France, of religious persecution. Startled at this statement, she has written this pamphlet in the form of a letter as a supplement to her Narrative." From the title we expected at least more information. There is enough, however, to shew that the accounts published by the Dissenting ministers of the persecution of the Protestants are correct, or rather that they are below the truth; though not enough to exonerate of conniving at these iniquitous and the French Court from the suspicion detestable proceedings.

In the language which is now fa shionable at Paris, Miss Williams "the tyrant" refers to Buonaparte as

* Commentaries on the Laws of Moses, (Translated by Dr. A. Smith) Vel, i. 156, &c.

Review-Miss Williams on the French Persecution.TM

from whose oppression the world is freed; yet she confesses (we can use no better word) that under him and "amidst all the various phases of the French Revolution, the star of religious liberty had moved calmly in its majestic orbit and cheered despairing humanity with a ray of celestial radiance. Amidst the violations of every other principle," she says, "the domain of conscience appeared to be consecrated ground, where tyranny feared to tread." No sooner, however, did the legitimates, in the popular phraseology, regain the ascendancy, than religious persecution burst out in all its horrors: an odd symptom, surely, of deliverance from oppression! Let the fair author speak for herself.

"The French Protestants had, during a long succession of years, been seen with brow erect in the senate, in the legislature, the army, at court-in every ceremonial of state holding their equal rank and marshalled beside their Catholic brethren.

"But what became of the dream of personal security, and the proud consciousness of undisputed rights, when the ear was suddenly appalled by new and strange exclamations? We are despoiled, we are devoted to slaughter, we are the victims of our profession of the faith of our fathers -of that faith once delivered to the saints! "The persecutors of the nineteenth century have not entered into the niceties of religious belief; they have not, in the indulgent spirit of their predecessors under Lewis XIV. proposed the alternative of La messe ou la mort, Repent, or perish; become Catholics, or we kill you; they have proceeded at once to execution: their victims were marked, and they have plundered end murdered as their fury directed, whereever they found Protestant property, or persons professing the Protestant faith.

"Nor was it now on the inhabitants of villages, such as the abodes of the obscure and disseminated Vaudois, that these hor Fors were inflicted; the citizens of opulent towns and their popular vicinages, have become the martyrs. Nismes has been the centre of this desolation, from whence it has spread into the country around, even to that which has been noted as the citadel of Protestantism in France, the mountains

of the Cevénnes.

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appears to them an unequivocal- proof that " it was an organized religious persecution. There is something so strange to all our habitudes and feelings, so horrible in the sound of religious persecution, that we committed at our very doors. We were for cannot help doubting the fact, though it be a long time incredulous, and, what added to our incredulity on this subject, was, that this persecution should have taken place while the country was in possession of the Protestant powers of Europe, by either of which it might instantly have been crushed.": Pp. 6-8.

Miss Williams, with the rest of the world, is incredulous no longer. But why did not the Protestant powers of Europe interfere? They were too busy, says our author, in a subdued tone of sarcasm; and "no French army existed." Even Napoleon's army, then, would, if in existence, have speedily crushed the persecution. The Protestant powers were unconcerned spectators while the knife was held to the throats of their fellow-protestants; but, it should have been added, that the troops of Austria, a Catholic power, did on one occasion step beyond their commission to check the crusaders of the south. A little of the same virtuous irregularity on the part of the Duke of Wellington and Lord Castlereagh would have effectually kept under the French bigots both in the court and the country.

In a long passage, forming a considerable part of the pamphlet, too oratorical to be instructive, Miss Williams' pencils a rapid sketch of the varying fortunes of the French Protestants from the Reformation to the Revolution. She relates that during the momentous period comprehended under the latter term, the Catholic clergy made overtures to the Protestants for a junction of the two churches! The proposal came to nothing, though the Catholic prelate chiefly concerned was complaisant, and the Protestant minister who treated with him was flexible. "We were acquainted," says Miss Williams, "with the flexibility of our Protestant friend" Is M. Marron the person here intended? and is there here a sly allusion to his flexibility on a later occasion?

Instead of an alliance between Catholics and Protestants, one of a different description took place between Buonaparte and the Pope, which pro duced the celebrated Concordat.

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