"Let us remember, that we wear the robes of our ministry, whether the gown of the Minister, or the lawn of the Prelate, on the solemn pledge of labouring to drive away the fatal superstitions that overwhelm our wretched countrymen. If, when we were asked that solemn question, Are you ready with all faithful diligence to banish and drive away all erroneous and strange doctrines, contrary to God's word, and both privately and openly to call upon, and encourage others to the same ?" If any Minister, or if any Bishop had refused to make the solemn pledge, “ I am ready, the Lord being my helper”- that Minister had never been invested with the sacred gown, nor that Bishop with the pure and holy lawn of the Church of England—and shall we give such solemn pledges to gain the high authority of our office, and then abandon then, when we have attained the object? Have these words no meaning-or have we no respect to it? Oh! we have forgotten our solemn duties and responsibilities—we have been deceived by the names of things-we have mistaken the law of public opinion, which branded Popery as a superstition, and in which we acquiesced, for that. law of God, of Christian fidelity, of Christian responsibility, of Christian duty, and of Christian love, which bound us by every obligation, human and divine, to promote the instruction and reformation of our countrymen, but which we have totally neglected. We imagined our Church secure in that contemptible, and transitory political ascendancy, (how contemptible, and how transitory, the annihilation of it was evinced!) which, as it was based on human laws, bas sunk with the quicksand foundation on which it stood; and we forgot in this, that high and holy ascendancy of our Church, which the truth of the eternal God alone can give to a religion, and which human laws and human power, can neither give nor take away. We have merged the mighty majesty and the authority of God, in the mimic majesty and authority of man, and let us beware, lest our God shall teach us in the desertion of the one, the dreadful sacrifice we have made in the abandonment of the other. What is the actual state of our Church-are not the protections which the laws have hitherto extended over the Church of England, gradually withdrawing or withdrawn-is not the law of public opinion keeping pace with the law of the land; so that dissenting from our religion is considered of as little importance, as changing the place where you purchase your commodities? Where is that high and dignified spirit of respect and homage, for all that is august, and venerable, and sacred, in our Established religion, which, but a few years ago, would as soon have contemplated the dissolution of the British Constitution, the annihilation of the British Empire, as the separation of the Established Church, from being an integral part and parcel of its existence? What public paper does not now hold forth, as a matter of presumptuous speculation, the dismemberment of our Church, and the spoilation of our ecclesiastical property? Is not the standard of public principle, if we can call it by that name, sinking into that bathos of nominal liberality, but of real infidelity, than one sort of Teligion is little better than another-and are we so weak and blind, as not to see the facility of imperceptible, but inevitable transition from this principle to the next, which must obtain alike in Popery as in Dissent, that the property of the majority should never be given to support the religion of the minority in a country? I appeal not to that feeling, which is too base to be entertained for a moment, that we are all called on to exert ourselves, for the defence of the property of the Church. But I say to every man, who is sensible of the invaluable blessing of such a "pillar and ground of truth," as the Established Church is in this Empire, that we are called on, if their be any thing responsive in our breasts, to exert ourselves to maintain, to assert, to vindicate, and to advance the great and holy principles of our religion. We are called on to advance them, as the cause of our God-we are called on to advance them, as those with which He bas entrusted us for his own glory, and for the sal vation of our fellow-men-we are called on to advance them, for the everlasting interest of those, who are bowed beneath the domination of a superstition, which debases the intellect, corrupts the morals, and destroys the immortal souls of our countrymen, our neighbours, our companions, our friends, perhaps our relations-we are called upon, by all the responsibilities that man can incur, by all the claims on our feelings of humanity, and Christian love, which

I use the question put to the Bishops, as including the obligations of all orders in the

Charch.

our fellow-men can possess—by all the solemn pledges which man can make to his religion, and by all the warnings, and denunciations, and commands, which he can receive from his God. We are called on by all these, to stand forward, if we have a claim to the name of Christians, I might say of men, and to marshal the principles of eternal truth against those of superstition, and of infidelity in our country—it is not in the hostility of the Dissenter, nor in the superstition of the Roman Catholic, nor in the latitudinarianism of the Infidel, but it is in the neglect and apathy of the man, who, professing a regard for our religion, is deaf. to these calls to exertion in his sphere, whatever it be; it is in him we must recognize the worst and most dangerous enemy to the Established religion in this country. Let every man who considers the solemnity of the vows which he has made, when he lays his head upon his pillow, in his glebe, or in his palace, reflect thus with himself" these temporal blessings-this property-this house-these spiritual mercies-this station-this high and holy office, and dignity, I have received from the Church of my country, under my solemn pledge, to diffuse the truth she maintains, and to reform the errors against which she protests. What have I done this day in the discharge of this? I have pledged myself to use all faithful diligence' to fulfil it, and to call on and encourage others so to do.' Have I used any such diligence this day, or is it my intention to use any to-morrow ?—I am ŝet as a watchman on this tower by the Lord-have I lifted up my voice like a trumpet'—have I spoken to warn the wicked from his way,' or do I intend to do so-do I care whether or not he perishes in his iniquity—or shall I not hear and fear, when the Lord saith, that if he does so perish, his blood he will require at my hands ?'" pp. 255, 258, 268.

Christologia; or a Declaration of the Glorious Mystery of the Person of Christ: By John Owen, D. D. A New Edition. Dublin: Tims. 1831.

The True Nature of Christ's Person and Atonement stated, in reply to the unscriptural Views of the Rev. Edward Irving, "On the Human Nature of Christ." By the Rev. William Urwick. Dublin: W. Curry, Jun. and Co. 1830.

We were among the first to sound the alarm on the subject of the innovations of Mr. Irving, regarding the humanity of the Redeemer. We cannot indeed boast, like the editors of the Morning Watch, of our extensive theological information-but we have read a little, and thought a little, and we know enough of our Bible, and enough of ecclesiastical history, to be not a little afraid of real and of apparent novelties; and we were a good deal startled at Mr. Irving's theories, even when they were unformed and crude, as he delivered them in his sermons on the Incarnation; and we denounced them to our readers, as subversive of the first elements of our faith. We did not disguise the difficulties of the subject-we did not pretend to go beyond the written word-but we could, and we did, venture to assert, that whatever might be right, Mr. Irving was erroneouserroneous in his assertions, erroneous in his deductions, erroneous in the dogmatism with which he propounded his opinions, and most erroneous in the ascription of Catholicity to these opinions. We are glad to find that the view we took of his theories, and which was confirmed by perusing his subsequent essay and pamphlet, is substantially the same as that which is held by the sober-minded of the religious world throughout the empire; nor should we now call the attention of our readers to this most repulsive subject, but that we fear the statements so broadly and so boldly put forward by Mr. I. have made some progress in the country to which our labours are more particularly directed; and that during that gentleman's visit to Ireland, the suavity of his manner-the ingenuity of his evasions-and the difficulty, from various causes, of bringing the matter to that point in which a comparison could be made between oral and written statements, rather tended to confirm the views previously entertained. We are glad to have

the opportunity of calling the public attention, at a period of sickly love for novelty, to the old fashioned, but substantial divinity of our forefathers; and to recommend, as an effectual antidote for Mr. I.'s extravagancies, the good sense, sound learning, and powerful scriptural reasoning of John Owen; and also to bring forward the able confutation furnished by our townsman, Mr. Urwick, to the delusive but dangerous errors of the system. In the following pages we shall draw largely upon Mr. Urwick's volume, and shall now recommend it as a clear, connected, and powerful reply to all that is argumentative, and an exposure of all that is declamatory, in Mr. 1.'s work; nor have we ever seen a demolition more complete. But this is not all— Mr. U. not merely throws down, but proves himself to be a good masterbuilder too; and the truth has found in him a most able and scriptural expositor. The Incarnation-Justification by Faith-Regeneration-Sanctification are all treated by him with the skill and prudence that belong to him that knows how well to divide the truth; and we rejoice most sincerely, to find among our Dissenting brethren, one so competent to grapple with and to repress the strong, bnt eratic struggles of his competitor. We will add, too, that until this volume is answered, Mr. U. stands more than justified in declining to introduce Mr. I. into the pulpit, and to the congregation committed to his care; a measure that we have heard, we think most unjustly, censured.

We have never been surprised at Mr. Irving's popularity, but we would be surprised if that popularity had continued permanent. He has many conspicuous and effective gifts as a preacher, and many even as a writer; and when we consider his peculiar style-his strong assertions-his dogmatical assumptions-his sweeping condemnatory sentences-the novelty of many of his opinions, and the impressive character of others--the solemn truths occasionally brought forward, and the effective and eloquent manner in which they were frequently stated and enforced, we can account for the sensation he produced. His very faults, which were certainly not concealed, were as likely to promote a temporary popularity as his really valuable and powerful qualities. The "high a-priori" way that he selected the boldness of his statements, and the uncompromising nature of his claims, dazzled and perplexed-a considerable portion of eloquence, though not remarkable for the correctness of its taste, and the obvious piety and sincerity of the author necessarily attracted admirers, many of whom would not examine where claims were so high, and many of whom were puzzled by the involutions of a wordy style that obscured, when it should have elucidated. But it was impossible this could last-the public recovered from the perplexity into which Mr. Irving's style and manner had cast them; his eccentricities lost their charm by losing their novelty; his reasonings were found to have more obscurity than depth; his sentences more words than meaning; his eloquence more verbiage than power. The reader began to pause and examine the meaning, and to question the accuracy of the sonorous or the quaint passages that fell upon his ear, and the result of the examination was generally unfavourable to Mr. Irving's claims to confidence. His originality was suspected to be quaintness; his peculiarity to be mannerism; his enthusiasm exaggeration; the secret of bis eloquence was found to consist in bold and startling statements; and that of his reasoning in a noble contempt of self-contradiction.

Mr. Irving first made his appearance before the public as a preacher, and a publisher of what the world called sermons, but he termed orations; and certainly as a moral declaimer, and a pulpit satirist, he exhibited very decided powers, in spite of his "affectations" and bombast. We remember well the im

pression made by these Orations, when first published, an impression which, though it resulted very much from the peculiar mannerism of Mr. Irving, and the very faults we have been regretting, was no unjust testimony to their power. We think his general style far better fitted for popular declamation than discussion-for impressing and applying known truth, than investigating what is concealed. His habits of thinking, no less than of writing, partake of the qualities, good and bad, of extempore composition, the very circumstance that should have made him institute a very severe critical inquiry into whatever he had determined to publish. Mr. Irving next appeared as a prophet, and an interpreter of unfulfilled prophecy, to which task he brought, at least, the qualification of an unquenchable enthusiasm and imagination; in this pursuit he has left, we believe, all his competitors behind, and though he shares with one in the triumph of discovering a portion of canonical Scripture in the apocryphal book of Esdras, we believe that few even of the millenarians will follow him in his apocalyptic lectures; and, lastly, Mr. Irving has presented himself as a theologian, in which department we hesitate not to say, that the inaccuracy of his statements, and the indistinctness of his views, and the unscriptural character of his system, can only be equalled by the boldness of his denunciations, and the dogmatical self-sufficiency with which they are put forward. When we hear Mr. Irving arraigning, and convicting of ignorance and folly, all who do not go the length of his millenarian speculations, we are provoked to smile; but when we find the same person uttering the most dangerous misstatements, apparently ignorant of their meaning, though on all other subjects a master of the significance of language, overturning by sentiments which best find their antidote in their selfcontradictions, the very foundations on which the Gospel is based, and then anathemizing and denouncing the ministers and laymen who hesitate at receiving such statements, and who side with Mr. Irving against himself, we are not tempted to smile, but to lament that power such as his, and sincerity such as his, should be so much misdirected and misemployed, deluded by the love of system, or the love of singularity. We doubt not that many will exclaim against the severity of such statements, but we would beseech such persons to pause before they form their judgment; to examine the opinions that Mr. Irving has advocated, and the style of his advocacy, and to say whether it would be consistent with duty to pass a lighter censure upon either. Mr. Irving is no common man; his powers of mind, his warmth of enthusiasm, his sincerity and his eloquence, must always render him a conspicuous speaker and writer, and it is, therefore, our duty to examine and to judge, and with the more minuteness that his errors cannot be limited in their effects. Contending with weapons that few controversialists of the present day would use, and wielding them with a giant's strength, alternately using argument and anathema, now involving himself and his meaning in a cloud of words, and now buttressing himself by an assumption of ecclesiastical authority, but always manifesting power and intellect, he must be dangerous in proportion to his strength; we would, therefore, claim the indulgence of our friends, if actuated by an anxiety and a fear for the truth, we apply to his opinions and the mode of establishing them, language harsher than we would willingly use, of a man whose sincerity we respect, of whose honesty we have no reason to form a doubt, whose piety and zeal are acknowledged, and whose talents are confessedly of an high rank and order. Eminently qualified to be useful by the application of these talents, calculated from his situation to become a link between the Establishment and Dissenters, who have been in England too

much divided, we lament to find that he has not answered the elevated station in which he was placed. The latter are unanimous against him, and those of the former who adhere to him have been led into what we conceive to be error of no common kind. We lament to see such a waste of intellect and power, but we trust that the circumstances which have recently taken place in London, will be blessed by the influence of divine grace to the humbling of his mind, and the more careful examination of his opinions.

The controversies that have agitated the Christian church, have been made the ground of general censure upon its system and its character. It is scarcely necessary to point out the injustice of such a judgment. If man was to be treated as a moral agent, a capacity of choice, and therefore a liability to error, must have formed part of his nature; every statement of doctrine, whether oral or written, is liable to misinterpretation, and without a perpetual miracle of interference which we ought neither to expect, nor would be analogous to God's moral government, a preservation from error could not take place. Ignorance, and ingenuity, and human passion, form but bad interpreters of the word of God, and we are inclined to believe that to them are to be attributed the greater part of the doctrinal mistakes, that have been the source of division in the Christian world. Indeed when we look to the ages in which these controversies prevailed, and the weapons by which they were too frequently decided, we cannot but admire the mercy of the Great Head of the Church, that made the wisdom and the folly of man subservient to the establishment of the truth, and has preserved to us from all the agitating differences of the various contending sects, a creed so suitable to the simplicity of the Scriptures and the wants and necessities of man. It may be that the individuals who contended and persecuted each other to death, scarcely understood themselves or one another; it may be that contests about words may have produced worldly passions and worldly intolerance; but the benefit to the church has not been small. We have learned toleration in all doubtful and mysterious points, we have been taught the danger of mingling human speculations with religion; while the really important points of our faith have been so accurately examined, compared so scrupulously with Scripture and so guarded in detail, that further controversy might seem to have been unnecessary.

The first controversies arose about the person of the Redeemer, and were connected with the opinions imbibed from Gentile philosophy. That in the form, and under the appearance of man, he assumed the character, performed the actions, and claimed the honours of divinity, seemed not to admit a question; and while it is doubtful if there were any who made the Christ a mere man, or that the error of Priestley and Belsham was held at all in the primitive church, devices to us more recondite and strange, were resorted to, in order to reconcile the difficulty. The Docetæ, influenced by the oriental horror of matter as the principle of evil, solved the mystery, by denying Jesus' real humanity, assuming an unreal body, and seeing in the Messiah but a God; while others taught, that the two-fold nature was the result of a supernatural illapse upon the man Jesus, the son of Mary and Joseph, who was the instrument impelled by the Eon Christ, and deserted by

• Mr. Irving would be surprised to find a similarity traceable between his system, and that of these impure heretics, yet such an one exists; for we find they justified the desertion of the Son of Mary to the pains of crucifixion, by referring to the imperfection of the human nature of the Messiah; and Mr. Irving derides the idea of God's treating his Son otherwise than he really was, making his death the natural effect of a fallen

Dature.

VOL. XI.