Sermons on several occasions, and Charges ... To which is prefixed a Memoir of the Author by C. Ives [the Editor].

"tution has been the means of producing to the "world. When I remove to London, I shall hope "to have the pleasure of seeing you, and of thanking you in person for the gratification your book "has afforded me." The latter prelate writes nore particularly thus: "I beg to return you my best "thanks, as well for your obliging present of your

Boyle's Lecture Sermons, as for the great pleasure "and information which the perusal of the first "volume has afforded me. You have no reason to "fear the opinion which all serious people will en"tertain, of your publication of an important argu"ment, which is so well arranged, and so regularly "deduced, and where such extensive learning, and "so many very acute observations are presented to "your readers, in a style peculiarly easy, and perspicuous. In other quarters, it may perhaps not "be so well received, and the less, on account of the "just position which you have insisted on through"out, that the spiritual Enemy was active from the "beginning, and still continues to be so. Your "distinction between his operation, and the Evil

Principle of the old heretics, is sound and accurate, and anticipates the only objection which can "be brought by those who wish to keep it out of sight. I need not say that I shall enter on the "second volume with much eagerness, and a full assurance that I shall not be disappointed in the expectations which I have formed of it." The distinction thus referred to, and specially commended by Bishop Dampier, is drawn out in the twelfth lecture, at page 445 of the fourth edition, and is

indeed sufficiently clear to have prevented the imputation of Manicheism, which (as the Author seems to have expected) was brought against his "Histo"rical View" by certain Socinian reviewers of the day. The difference between the scriptural representation of the Evil Spirit, which he had adhered to, and that of the heresy, which maintains the doctrine of an Evil Principle in the universe, coequal and coeval with God himself, is there declared in a manner not to be mistaken, except by persons who would deny the existence, under any conditions, of an Evil Spirit.

It is, no doubt, to be supposed, that the greater number of the persons by whom this memoir shall be taken up, have perused the above imperishable work. Yet even to them a short digest of its contents may seem not unacceptable, nor out of place; and some, perhaps many, of the remainder may thereby be induced to procure and read it. The Writer, accordingly, thinks fit here to insert such a digest from the able pen of Mr. Prebendary Townsend, in a sermon preached by him at Durham cathedral on the Sunday immediately following the Bishop's death. After justly stigmatising, as the great error of the age in which we live, the opinion that infidelity or unbelief may be supposed equally sincere with belief, and a conclusion of reason, and therefore to be held exempt from censure, Mr. Townsend thus proceeds: "Against this intolerable " evil, the book was written, of which I am speaking. "The proposition which the Bishop lays down, and "which he defends, and shews throughout to be

right, is this—That infidelity in all its forms, from paganism in the earlier times, to the philosophical, "metaphysical, sceptical unbelief of the present day, "is not unintentional error, but the wilful corrup"tion of known truth, and therefore an undoubted "sin. He affirms and proves, that infidelity origin"ated, not in the difficulty of discovering truth," (since God revealed it both to our first parents, and subsequently to others,)" but in the sin of the heart, "which denies truth; in the pride of the under"standing, which confuses truth; or in the love of "evil in the life, which rejects and abhors truth. "He begins his noble work by demonstrating, that

infidelity takes its rise in these sources only, under "the power and influence of the evil Spirit, by whom "all sin and all evil was at first introduced into this "lower world. When man, under his influence, fell "from God, then the prophecy was uttered, which "has ever been fulfilled by infidelity alone, in its "various forms of apostasy-'I will put enmity "between thee and the woman, and between thy "seed and her seed:' it was predicted that there "should be carried on in the world, a constant war"fare between truth and falsehood, good and evil, "vice and virtue, religion and irreligion; and that "this was to arise, not, as modern infidels tell us, "from unavoidable defects of the understanding, or

deficiency of evidence, but from enmity--from the "hatred that fallen man (naturally) bears to the "one true religion, which God would through many ages gradually reveal, till it was at length completed." Thence the Author "goes on to prove

"from the whole History of Infidelity, beginning "with the antediluvian world, through the pagan"ism, the heathenism, and the corrupt philosophy "of the Gentiles before Christ, to the rise and pro

gress of Mahommedanism, Atheism, Deism, and "various systems of error and false philosophy after "Christ, down to our own age, that it continues in "the world from the same causes. He confirms the "justness of this statement, by pointing out the fulness of the evidence which demonstrates the truth " of the religion of the Bible, together with the impossibility that man could ever frame an (acceptable) religion for himself. He points out the utter insufficiency of the human understanding to do "this, and the consequent necessity of the submis“sion of the understanding to the truths of Revela"tion, as a part of the moral probation of man. "He reviews" (and places in a most convincing light) "the arguments" (from the extensive and consistent scheme of revealed religion) "from mira"cles, from prophecy, and from the inspiration of Scripture; and he concludes by shewing, that "while his argument will not of course apply to "those who never heard of the Gospel, it applies to * all who live in a Christian country, and have re"ceived a common Christian education. There is "no excuse (he maintains) for those who resist the " evidences of Revelation, priding themselves on "their infidelity and unbelief; and, consequently, "that it is the duty of all to avoid the contamina"tion of false reasoning, to hold fast the profes"Sion of our faith without wavering,' and also to

vindicate it against the perverse disputings of "men of corrupt minds, whatever be the modern "notions of indifference to religion, or the danger"ous liberality, which makes truth and falsehood of equal authority, and of equal value.-Such is the "outline of the work, which will be esteemed by "the Student and the Christian, as long as truth is regarded, or the English language spoken."

If any thing may be added to the foregoing by an inferior hand, the present writer begs to record, in a few sentences, his strong impression, that a book on the whole more worthy, both as to its plan and execution, has seldom, or never, been produced. The learning, which, without ostentation, is brought to bear on every department of the subject, and the energetic language which pervades it, are truly of a more than ordinary description. Once, indeed, (and perhaps oftener,) it has been represented by an unfriendly writer, as the work of a merely industrious compiler. The Author's reputation does not require that this should be absolutely contradicted. A compilation to a great extent it is. The first, i. e. the historical, part, were it entirely new, or invented, would be no better than a cunningly devised fable-a false accusation against the Evil One, and his disciples; and respecting the latter half, which is the Refutation, it might have been scarcely possible in the course of that, to adduce any solid arguments, which had not in some shape previously been alleged. Besides, there has rarely been known a mind less ambitious to strike out novelties, or more distrustful of them when urged

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