what it did teach, that in this state of perplexity I began to doubt and to suspect there must be something wrong or that the whole was a delusion. In this uncomfortable state, I met with Mr. Evanson's Letter to Bishop Hurd, and from it I obtained a clue to the cause and source of the corruptions; in pursuing which I was led to the study of the prophecies and the ecclesiastical history of the first three or four centuries, and from thence obtained complete satisfaction that the corruptions of Christianity had been produced by the spurious books collected into the canon of the New Testament; that many of those books were neither authentic nor genuine, but contained a mixture of some truths and much fiction; that there were others, as the writings of Luke, that possessed the most complete and satisfactory evidence of their authenticity, containing every thing that is conformable to our best conceptions of the Divine character, and essential to instruct us in our duty here and our expectation hereafter. This afforded me such satisfaction of mind, and such a firm conviction of the truth of the Christian religion, when thus stripped of the mysterious delusions in which it was enveloped, that now, after many years of reflection and review of the subject, nothing, I believe, short of mathematical demonstration can produce a stronger conviction on the mind than I now feel of the truth of the Christian revelation: it has been my support and consolation under all the trials of life, and now remains the firm anchor of my hope.

If Christianity, when thus stripped of the delusions with which it has been cloaked by the orthodox Church, having deceived and misled so many millions of nominal Christians, whose religion has been formed from the creeds and articles of the different churches with which they have been connected, instead of the pure and simple religion of Jesus, and perverted them into the belief of such a superstitious and delusive system, that is a stumbling-block to the Jew and an insurmountable obstacle to the Unbeliever, how much, then, does it behove us, by every means in our power, to endeavour to remove those obstacles to a belief of the simplicity of the truth as it is in Jesus! Let not the pious Christian who has thus taken up his religion on

trust, be alarmed, were all the spurious books expunged from the sacred volume; the writings of Luke alone, supported as they are by such a complete mass of evidence as scarce any other ancient book did ever possess, (and no profane history possibly can,) and which contains such a plain, wellconnected account of the life, precepts and resurrection of our Lord, with every thing necessary for directing us in our duty here, with the promise of immortality and never-ending happiness hereafter, may surely satisfy us, and ought to be made the standard to try all the others by. TRUTH is TRUTH. As no multiplication of evidence can make it more, so no reduction of the number can make it less. Why, then, such alarm, especially from Unitarians? In the writings of Luke alone, Unitarianism is clearly proved "to be the religion of the gospel." Instead, therefore, of being alarmed, let us diligently labour to bring back Christianity to its native standard of purity, as instituted by Jesus himself, according to Luke's history: it will then, as it was originally intended, be level to the meanest capacity, and, instead of being endangered, will increase with accelerated speed, till the whole world shall become Christian.

Whatever may have been the plan of our heavenly Father in the dispensation of Christianity, though we from our limited faculties are incapable of tracing all the links of the chain, we may reasonably conclude it was never intended to be involved in such mystery as to be productive of error and uncertainty to the end; but that, when the purposes for which the corruptions were introduced had fulfilled their designs, the plain declarations of our Lord, as recorded by Luke in the institution of the New Covenant, would be so clearly understood as to be universally received and embraced; and in this conclusion we are confirmed by the sure testimony of prophecy.

Let us, then, instead of continuing in endless disputes about verbal criticism, and defending or opposing useless doctrines, the "wood, hay and stubble" that must be destroyed, endeavour to remove the real obstacles to pure Christianity, and, taking the well-attested record of Luke for our standard, cautiously examine, but resolutely expunge, every thing that we find contradictory or not clearly recon

cileable to it; then shall we accelerate its progress, until we finally become one fold under the one great Shepherd.

In concluding, I will further endeavour, if I can, to convince Cephas that I am not a disguised Unbeliever, by a sincere and ardent wish-but, having no words of my own adequate to the subject, I will again borrow the eloquent language of our revered and highly-valued friend Mr. BelshamThat the era may" (speedily) " arrive, marked in resplendent characters in the decrees of Heaven, and to which the golden index of prophecy continually points, when the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea, and the reign of Truth, Freedom, Virtue and Happiness, shall be universal and everlasting."

Taking leave of this short controversy, I have now, Sir, only to thank you for the indulgence you have afforded me.

J. S.

GLEANINGS; OR, SELECTIONS AND REFLECTIONS MADE IN A COURSE OF GENERAL READING.

No. CCCLXXVI.

Lord Mansfield and Lord Camden. I remember (says Mr. Jeremy Bentham, in a work, printed but not published, on the " Elements of Packing, as applied to Juries," Note, p. 56) hearing partialities and even the habit of partiality imputed by many to Lord Mansfield: I cannot take upon me to say with what truth. Partly by situation, partly by disposition, exposed to party enmity, so he accordingly was to calumny. "Lord Mansfield," (said his everlasting rival and adversary Lord Camden once,) "Lord Mansfield has a way of saying-It is a rule with me -an inviolable rule-never to hear a syllable said out of court about any cause that either is, or is in the smallest degree likely to come, before me." Now, I-for my part"-(observed Lord Camden,) "I could hear as many people as choose it talk to me about their causes-it would never make any the slightest impression upon me." Such was the anecdote whispered to me (Lord Camden himself at no great distance) by a noble friend of his, by whom I was bid to receive it as conclusive evidence of heroic purity.

In the days of chivalry, when it happened to the Knight and his Princess to find themselves tête-à-tête upon their travels, and the place of repose, as would sometimes happen, offered but one bed, a drawn sword, placed in a proper direction, sufficed to preserve whatever was proper to be preserved. This was in days of yore, when pigs were swine, and so forth. In these degenerate days, the security afforded by a brick-wall would, in the minds of the censorious multitude, be apt to command more confidence.

No. CCCLXXVII.

Epitaph on Dr. Edmund Law, Bishop of Carlisle.

One of the newspapers lately inserted the following classical epitaph, inscribed on a slab of marble immediately behind the pulpit in the Cathedral Church of Carlisle :

Hujusce columnæ sepultus est ad pedem, Edmundus Law, S. T. P., per XIX. ferè annos hujusce ecclesiæ episcopus; in Evangelica veritate exquirenda et vindicunda, ad extremam usque senectutem, operam navavit indefessam; quo studio et affectu veritatem, eodem et libertatem Christianam coluit, religionem simplicem et incorruptam, nisi salva libertate, stare non posse, arbitratus. Obiit Aug. xiv. MDCCLXXXVII. Ætatis LXXXIV.

The epitaph is thus translated in the journal referred to. If instead of sacred," ," the translator had written Evangelical "truth," the version would have been more literal and more faithful to the evident meaning of the composer. (Qu. Archdeacon Blackburne?)

At the foot of this pillar lies buried Edmund Law, S. T. P., Bishop of this diocese for nearly 19 years; he used unwearied industry both in the search and in the defence of sacred truth, even to the last year of his long life; nor was he less distinguished for zeal and affection in the cause of civil liberty, well assured that pure and undefiled religion never flourished where liberty is not secure. He died on the 14th of August, 1787, in the 84th year of his age.

The reader need not be informed that Bishop Law was the father of the late Lord Ellenborough and of the present Bishop of Chester.

ART. I.—Summary View of a Work, intituled "Not Paul, but Jesus;" as exhibited in Introduction, Plan of the Work, and Titles of Chapters and Sections. By Gamaliel Smith, Esq. London, printed for Effingham Wilson. 8vo. pp. 15.

THE
HE readers of The Monthly
Repository have already been

informed that the work of which we

are here favoured with a prospectus and a specimen is "on the point of offering itself to the public eye." This intelligence, it now seems, we received from the author himself. In the letter which conveyed it to us, he intimates that the abhorrence with which the Ebionites are well known to have regarded Paul is presumptive of their belief that "the allegation of his intercourse with Jesus was no other than an imposture." Now, in truth, they rejected both his writings and his history: but then cue cause of their hatred to him was his strenuous resistance to every attempt at imposing the rites of Moses on the Heathen converts; † and their hostility from such a motive, to such a man, was alike honourable to the apostle and reproachful to them

selves.

We proceed to examine the copious advertisement of the work that Mr. Gamaliel Smith has announced with 80 many "notes of preparation."

In his praise of CoVYERS MIDDLETON (p. 2) we concur. As a general scholar, even yet more than as a theologian, the author of the Free Enquiry, &c., stands high upon the rolls of fame. With considerable ability and learning, he has shewn that miraculous powers did not continue in the church after the age of the apostles. Yet he believed in their existence down to that period. His argument confirms the more direct proof of their reality, since what is counterfeit attests an

original which it imitates, and the circulation of spurious coin takes place subsequently to the issue of some that is lawful and undebased.

The best pretensions of the Edinburgh Reviewers (ib.) will not be found in their theological erudition and criticisms. Nor was it necessary for Mr. G-1 S-h to quote their opinion that the fathers are not to be regarded "as guides either in faith or morals." Still, if those early writers are perused with discrimination, they will be pronounced extremely valuable witnesses to the authenticity and genuineness of the Christian Scriptures. On this account we will venture to wish that they may be carefully read by the author of "Not Paul, but Jesus."

According to Mr. G―l S―h, (ib.,) Middleton did not go far enough: "One thorn still remained to be

plucked out of the side of this so much injured religion, and that was, the addition made to it by Saul of Tarsus: by that Saul who, under the name of Paul, has,-(as will be seen,) without warrant from, and even in the teeth of, the history of Jesus, as delivered by his companions and biographers, the four evangelists,-been dignified with the title of his apostle : his apostle, that is to say, his emissary : his emissary, that is to say, sent out by him." We submit, however, that the two words apostle and emissary are not synonymous. Johnson's definition of the English term emissary is as follows: "one sent out on private messages; a spy; a secret agent." Such being the proper import and almost invariable use of this noun in our own language, we deem the present application of it incorrect, and apparently invidious.

Of" Mede, Sykes and others," Mr. G-1 S-h remarks, (p 3,) that their ingenious labours were, in the case

Paley inaccurately employs the word emissaries concerning these among the earliest preachers of the gospel who were not apostles. Evid., &c., (ed. 8,) pp. 109, 314.

called that of the dæmoniacs, employed in the endeavour to remove the supernatural character from what, in their eyes, was no more than a natural appearance." This is true: by means of a sound and legitimate interpretation, they have evinced that "the case called that of the dæmoniacs was a case of insanity under various modifications." But these justly celebrated scholars and divines admitted with the utmost distinctness that Jesus Christ performed miracles* in curing those unhappy persons. There is a wide difference between historic facts and verbal and physiological investigations. Our author looks upon the dissensions and consequent mischiefs which have existed among persons professing Christianity, as originating in the words, not of Jesus, but of Paul, and of Paul alone." That Mr. G-h S-h should hazard this statement, is astonishing. Surely he knows that passages even of the Sermon on the Mount have been the subjects of theological discussion, of opposing interpretations. And did he never read the first, the sixth and the seventeenth chapters of the Gospel by John, to pass in silence at present many other portions of the evangelical history? Beyond doubt, more words of Paul than of Jesus have given rise to dissensions. The fact is readily explained by the nature of epistolary compositions, by the education and circumstances of the apostle, by the topics of which he treats, and by the state of the church at the period when he wrote. In his letters, many and great difficulties occur: yet most, if not all, may be removed by the application of fair and candid and judicious criticism. Were the assertion that they are the words" of Paul, and of Paul alone," which have produced dissensions among Christians, less exaggerated than it is, we should, notwithstanding, resist the principle of this gentleman's argument. In ascertaining what are and what are not the Scriptures of the New Covevant, our fancies and our prepossessions, our ease, our hopes and our

* Semler, too, Comment. de Dæmoniac. &c., (ed. 4,) p. 96, observes, "Negari non potest, Jesum fecisse miraculum, licet ejus objectum non credatur fuisse dæmon," &c.

fears, ought in no degree to be consulted. Writers of one class imagine that the historical memoirs ascribed respectively to Matthew, Mark and John have produced dissensions among Christians, and occasioned a corruption of our Saviour's doctrine; and we are told that we must therefore reject these gospels. A most illustrious man denounced the Epistle of James, because he conceived it to militate against the tenet of justification by faith: and now we are called upon to part with the history and the letters of Paul, on account of Mr. G-S-h's perceiving that they have given rise to many a volume of tedious and bitter controversy. Where is this rage for blotting out from the canon of Scripture what we do not like or do not understand, to stop? How long are the maxims of true criticism to be defied? If the author of "Not Paul, but Jesus," be permitted to question. the genuineness or the authority of this apostle's writings on the ground which has been described, surely, in turn, it may be allowed us to say that we cannot lightly surrender epistles containing so many weighty and cogent reasonings, and such charming devotional and moral lessons; exhibiting, too, such delightful and interesting features of a most accomplished character, as well as attesting the claims of the gospel, defining its purity and illustrating its spirit. And we presume that Truth would be on our side did we declare thus much. But we waive at present these considerations. The point at issue between Mr. GS-h and ourselves, must be determined by appropriate evidence; first by the voice of history, and afterwards by a critical examination of the writings impugned, yet not either by his antipathies or by our attachments.

We have made all the remarks that we judged essential on his Introduetion: his summary of the Plan of his Work, next demands our notice.

He proposes to divide this work into five parts. The first is to occupy two chapters, and will bring together the five accounts of Paul's conversion.†

* As the letters of an apostle of Jesus Christ.

"Acts ix. 1-18; Acts xxii. 3-16; Acts xxvi. 9-20; Gal. i. 11-17; 1 Cor.