exercise of Christian love; and we observe that the writer of the Summary, &c., is evidently perplexed as to the time of the partition-treaty.

From Paul's disagreement with Peter and Barnabas respectively, the natural and legitimate conclusion is not that Paul was no apostle of Jesus Christ, but that these great teachers of the gospel were engaged in no combination to impose a fraud upon the world. We, probably, shall learn hereafter why Paul's fourth and last visit to Jerusalem is denominated by Mr. G-S-h" the invasion visit;" on what evidence he asserts that the purpose of it was concealed, and the opposition to it universal; and on what pretence he speaks of a "plan of the apostles for ridding themselves of Paul." Perhaps, too, we shall be informed how it happens that the author of the Summary, &c., confounds a Nazaritic row with an exculpatory oath, and why he affirms that "perjurious was the purpose of the exculpatory ceremony commenced in the temple." In the mean time, we shall be more than excused if we do not detain our readers by an examination of gratuitous statements or of arbitrary conjectures.

This gentleman attacks Paul's character for sincerity, on the score of imagined "falsehood, as to the number of the witnesses of Jesus's resurrec

tion," and of " a false prediction that

the world would end in the life-time of persons then living." The truth, however, is, that in I Cor. xv. 5-9 we meet with no "contradictoriness to the gospel accounts:"* and that Mr. G- Sh and others misinterpret the prediction in 1 Thess. iv. 15, &c., v. 2, &c., has been proved by able and learned commentators. +

In his explanation of "Paul's supposable miracles," and in his review of the Acts of the Apostles, we shall not now accompany him. Withholding his credence from the supernatural features of this history, he appears

* See John xx. 24, and Bishop Pearce

and Rosenmüller on 1 Cor. xv. 5.

+ Benson and Hammond in loc. See also Nisbett's" Coming of the Messiah," p. 306, &c., but, above all, Bishop Watson's Apology for Christianity, [ed. 6,] pp. 48, &c.

still to think "it is not necessary, (p. 5,) that any such imputation as that of downright and wilful falsehood should be cast upon the author of that narrative." This is more than we can digest. For ourselves, we would stand clear of any such inconsistency. Did we reject the miracles described in the book of Acts, &c., we must reject that narratice throughout. It is not like the case of "Livy's or Tacitus's Roman History." where occasionally we read of prodigies, which, however, have little or no connexion with what precedes or follows. In the Acts of the Apostles the ordinary and the supernatural facts are mutually and indissolubly blended. And thus, as to the Epistles which almost universally are admitted to be Paul's, we must either take or discard them without reserve. Indeed, their contents negative the idea of forgery.

But a far more singular position of Mr. G-1 S-h's remains to be considered: "in part," says he, " or in the whole, the doctrines delivered by Paul were declared by him to be exclusively his own; and, so far as this is true, belong not to the religion of Jesus." Paul will explain and vindicate himself: Gal. i. 11, 12: "I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me, is not after man. For I neither received it of man,* neither was I taught it but BY THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST."

In the opinion of the writer of the Summary, &c., Paul's inducements were purely worldly: from the love of money, and "of money's-worth in various shapes," and from a love of power, he preached the gospel not simply without any conviction of its truth, but in opposition to his persuasion of its falsehood. Against the apostles was his competition directed;" and "this is a further proof of the worldliness of his inducements." These are indeed heavy allegations; but they are only allegations. We wait for evidence and until this be produced, of a quality and in a degree which we cannot expect to witness, we shall continue to believe that, with the exception of his Great Master, an individual more disinterested than Paul

See Mosheim de Rebus Christian. ante Const. Sæc. I. § iv. Note.

never appeared on the stage of human life. Taking the whole of his history and of his writings together, we say that the falsehood of his pretensions would be more miraculous than the truth of them, and that when Christians are accused, as such, of credulity, the charge recoils on their opponents.

How it was possible for Paul, in the fulfilment of the apostolic office, to entertain or gratify any desire of wealth, of ease, of fame, of patronage and influence; or, indeed, not to change his temporal condition for the worse, is a problem which Mr. G-1 S―h must try to solve. In making the attempt, he must weigh all the minute and circumstantial accounts which that writer gives of his moderation in exercising his undoubted privileges and his characteristic powers. He must do still more: he must shew how it was practicable for Paul, if his conversion had not been real and miraculous, to have been a missionary to the Gentiles, how, on the supposition of his being either an impostor or an enthusiast, he could have preached with so much efficacy and success, and whence it has come to pass that, from the earliest age, and with an almost perfect unanimity, multitudes, and among them those who possessed the strongest motives for examining the case, and the best opportunities of judging of it, have received his Epistles for what they profess to be-upostolic letters. If antiquity be no decisive proof of the correctness of an opinion, it is of great force, however, in attesting historical and epistolary compositions. Nor

even here will the task of the author of the Summary, &c., be finished. He must refute, if he can, the argument in favour of the Acts and of the authority of Paul's writings, which is built on those undesigned coincidencies with each other that they severally exhibit : he must teach us why Paul is in any measure to be credited, if we may not also rationally admit his claims to be one of the apostles.

sent in doubt and ignorance. The grand subject under review, is one in regard to which soundness of reasoning, and not the strength of personal authority, will be conclusive. Since the writer has thought proper, either for the sake of feeling his way, or for raising public curiosity, to lay before the world a summary of his projected octavo volume, we have judged it our duty to lose no time in opposing to him those remarks which our attachment to the Christian Scriptures demands, and which can be circulated through this channel. We consider it as happy that so important an inquiry is to be pursued in the United Kingdom, and in the nineteenth century; and we entreat all our readers, but the younger part of them in particular, to peruse and re-peruse Locke's Essay on Paul's Epistles, George Lord Lyttelton on Paul's Conversion, Maltby's Illustrations of the Truth of the Christian Religion, and (INSTAR OMNIUM) the Hore Paulina of Paley.

N.

ART. II.-A Sermon preached at the Meeting-House in Monkwell Street, on the 25th of February, 1821, apon Occasion of the much-lamented Death of the Rev. James Lindsay, D. D. who departed this Life, suddenly and awfully, in an Assembly of about Eighty Protestant Dis senting Ministers of the Three Denominations, on the 14th Day of the same Month, in the 68th Year of his Age. By Abraham Rees, Ď. D. F.R. S. F. L. S. Soc. Amer. Soc. Editor of the Cyclopædia. To which is added, the Address delivered at the Interment of the Deceased, on the 23d of February. By Joseph Barrett. Svo. pp. 56. Longman and Co. and Hunter.

To Mr. G-1 8-h we are strangers. Some prominent singularities in the phraseology and arrangement of this pamphlet, lead us to suspect that the name of the author is assumed, and even direct our conjectures towards one or two individuals not unknown in the republic of letters. On such a point we are satisfied to remain at pre

pledged themselves to each other that the survivor should perform for the deceased the last funereal offices; and the latter, though by much the younger, being first called away by Providence, the venerable "Editor of the Cyclopedia" has redeemed the solemn pledge of friendship. The fermon is a heartfelt tribute of affection and respect to the memory of the deceased, whose character no one understood better or was more able to

describe justly than the learned and eminent preacher. It is the more interesting from the biographical particulars which it contains, of which we shall lay the substance before our readers.

JAMES LINDSAY was the son of Mr. Wm. Lindsay, of Pitcarity, in the county of Forfar; he was born in the month of November or beginning of December in the year 1753, in the parish of Kirrimuir in that county, and educated in the grammar-school of that parish, under the tuition of Mr. Mowatt, an eminent classical scholar, who was afterwards elected master of the grammar-school of St. Andrew's. In the year 1769, he was removed from the grammar-school of Kirrimuir to that of Aberdeen, and in November of that year admitted a student of King's College. Having passed through the regular course of education at that university, with the distinguished approbation of all the professors under whom he studied, he was admitted to the degree of M. A. in April 1773, and soon after became domestic tutor in the family of the Rev. Kenneth McAulay, minister of the parish of Calder, near Inverness, and author of the History of St. Kilda. In this situation he continued five years; during which period he attended for three sessions the Divinity Halls both of King's and of Marischal College, and delivered discourses on subjects prescribed to him in each of these colleges, to the entire satisfaction of the celebrated professors of theology, Dr. Alexander Gerard of King's College, and Dr. George Campbell of Marischal College. Having received ample testimonials from each of them to this effect, and submitted his testimonials to the Presbytery of Nairn, the members of that Presbytery admitted him in April 1776, on the probationary trials prescribed by the Church of Scotland to candidates for the minis. try. Having undergone these trials to their entire satisfaction, he was, on the 24 day of September 1776, licensed by that Presbytery to preach the gospel. When he had completed the education of the sons of Mr. McAulay, he was

* It thus appears that Dr. Lindsay was in his 68th year, not his 67th as stated in our former Numbers, p. 123 and p.

183.

employed in a similar capacity in the family of Mr. Forbes of Schivas, in the county of Aberdeen, through the recommendation of the late Rev. Dr. Macleod, principal of King's College.

Finding that he had no prospect of speedy preferment in the Church of Scotland, and having received an invitation from his friend and former fellow-student, the Rev. Dr. Macleod, then curate of St. George, Middlesex, now rector of St. Anne's, Soho, to pass some months in London, he arrived in the metropolis in the spring of the year 1781. Soon after his arrival, he was engaged by the Rev. William Smith, minister of Silver-street Chapel, in the City, to preach for him occasionally, and to assist him in conducting his respectable academy at Camberwell.

Having thus become known as a preacher, he received, on the resignation of the late Rev. Dr. James Fordyce, an invitation from the congregation of Monkwell Street to succeed that celebrated preacher. On the 21st of May, in the year 1783, he was ordained pastor of this Christian society*; Dr. Fordyce, Dr. Hunter, Dr. Kippis, Dr. Rees, and Mr. Worthington, bearing a part in the religious service of the day.

Soon after his settlement with this congregation, he undertook the charge of Mrs. Cockburn's academy at Newington-Green, which she, in a few years, resigned in his favour. During his residence there, he married Mrs. Cockburn's niece, who at her death left him with the charge of four daughters who survive him. At this time he officiated as afternoon-preacher at Newington-Green Chapel, with the late Rev. Dr. Towers for his colleague, as morning preacher, for twelve years; he also preached the Sunday-evening lecture at Salters' Hall Meeting-house, in connexion with Mr. Worthington, and Mr. (now Dr.) Morgan. During the two last years of his life, he assisted Dr. Rees, as afternoon preacher, at the Old Jewry Chapel in Jewin Street. In the year 1805, the University of King's College of Aberdeen conferred upon him the degree of D.D., and never was this honour more properly be

*He had, therefore, been nearly 38 years the minister of Monkwell-street. The statement, p. 123, of the duration of his pastoral connexion is consequently incorrect.

stowed. In the same year he removed with his flourishing academy to Bow, in Middlesex, to a house and situation in every respect suitable to his

purpose.

In consequence of his acceptance of the office of pastor to the congregation of Monkwell Street, which had always been distinguished for its liberality, he became a manager of the Presbyterian Fund, to which it has annually contributed and not long after, viz. 1787, he was elected one of Dr. Williams's trustees. To both these institutions

he was much attached, and he devoted to them as much of his time and attention as his numerous engagements would allow. Those who still survive, and who always found him a lively and cheerful as well as an useful coadjutor and associate, will recollect the hours which they spent with him in those societies with a mixture of pleasure and regret.

The following list of Dr. Lindsay's publications is affixed to the Sermon and Address :

"1. A Sermon preached at Monkwellstreet Meeting-house, Oct. 16, 1796, on occasion of the Death of Dr. James Fordyce, formerly Pastor of the Congregation worshiping in that place, who died at Bath, October 1st, aged 76.

"2. A Sermon occasioned by the Death of the Rev. Joseph Towers, LL.D. delivered at Newington Green, June 2, 1799; to which is added the Oration, delivered at his Interment, by the Rev. T. Jervis, "3. A Sermon on the Influence of Religious Knowledge, as tending to produce a gradual Improvement in the Social State, preached at the Meeting-house, Monkwell Street, on the 3d of January, 1813, for the Benefit of the Royal Lancasterian Institution, established in the Wards of Aldersgate, Bassishaw, Coleman Street and Cripplegate, in the City of London; and the Parish of St. Luke, Middlesex. [Mon. Repos. VIII. 412.] "4. A Sermon preached at the Meeting-house, Salters' Hall, Cannon Street, on the 8th August, 1813, on the Death of the Rev. Hugh Worthington, in the Fortieth Year of his Ministry in that place. With Explanatory Notes. [Mon. Repos. IX. 704.]

"5. A Sermon preached at the Meeting-house, Monkwell Street, on the 9th of November, 1817, being the first Sunday after the lamented Death of the Princess Charlotte Augusta.

"6. A Sermon on the Advances in Knowledge, Freedom and Morals, from

the Reformation to the present Times; preached to Young People at the Meeting-house in Monkwell Street, on the 4th of January, 1818. [Mon. Repos. XIII. 522.]

"7. Sermons on various Subjects, 1 vol. 8vo. 1819. [Mon. Repos. XV. 3744.]

8. Also printed, but not published, an Oration, delivered at the Library, RedCross Street, February 7, 1816, being the Centenary of the Founder's Death." [Inserted Mon. Repos. XI. 309–314.]

To these should be added: "A Sermon preached at St. Thomas's, January 1, 1788, for the Benefit of the Charity School, in Gravel Lane, Southwark. By James Lindsay, A. M. Printed at the Request of the Managers. Goldney, Paternoster Row."

It is designed to give to the public another volume of Dr. Lindsay's Sermons, with a Memoir and Portrait.

say

In his theological opinions Dr. Lindis described by Dr. Rees as agreeing upon the whole with the late Dr. Price.

"Those who constantly attended his ministry were instructed and impressed by his clear statement and powerful enforcement of practical truth. None of them could be at a loss to know that his sentiments did not agree with some of those which were held by persons who, in modern times, have assumed the appellation of Unitarians, and more especially such as concerned the person of Christ and the efficacy of his mediation : they must be well apprized, that while he asserted and maintained the unity of God, and admitted only one object of religious worship, he believed the preexistent dignity of Jesus Christ; and thought him degraded by those who considered him as a mere man; and that he ascribed offices and powers to him under the Christian dispensation, which, in his judgment, constituted in part the excellence and value of Christianity, and which contributed to render it peculiarly important and interesting to mankind." Pp. 26, 27.

The term degraded may seem to some readers to convey more than we apprehend the venerable preacher meant, and more than would be correct in reference to Dr. Lindsay's opinions. His Arianism could not have been of a very high or rigid kind, since he was for some years previous to his death a member of the Unitarian Society for the Distribution of Books. But Dr. Rees has added a note to the

passage just quoted, which it is only justice to extract :

"As some persons have misunderstood the statement relating to Unitarians in page 27, the author wishes it to be restricted to those who originally assumed and exclusively appropriated to themselves this appellation; which in later times has been more liberally extended. The fact, however, which he has asserted, has not been disputed. It is to be regretted, that since the more extensive use of the appellation of Unitarians, it has been applied to those who hold a variety of opinions, that have no kind of connexion with Unitarianism. Hence, in the estimation of some persons, it has become an objectionable denomination; and they have been afraid of assuming it, lest they should be considered as adopting sentiments, which, in their judgment, are erroneous. By others they are regarded as much less important than the unity of the object of worship."-P.

43.

The Sermon is from Matt. xxiv. 46,

On habitual Preparation for Death. This appropriate subject is judiciously treated and with a truly Christian spirit.

The following observations are of great importance:

"Some persons have erroneously apprehended, and the error has been of very pernicious consequence, that preparation for death is a work that may be performed in the very moment of alarm and danger; and that it consists in an instantaneous change, produced either by the irresistible power of God or the mechanical operation of the passious; or, in some single exercise of penitence, piety or charity. Whether this delusion dictated the prayer against sudden death, which occurs in the Litany of our Established Church, I will not presume to determine; although, considering the religious sentiments of its compilers, it does not seem improbable. view of it, it has always appeared to me In every very improper; nor could I ever cordially join in it. To pious and good men, who have duly employed their faculties and improved their time through life, a sudden death, so far from being an evil to be deprecated, is a desirable event; and in all the circumstances attending our esteemed friend's removal, an event truly enviable; and amply justifying the appropriation of the text to his case."-Pp. 5, 6.

To this passage the preacher subjoins an explanatory note:

"The petition for deliverance from sudden death in the mass-book of the Catholics, from which a great part of the Litany was taken, seems to be less exceptionable, as it is more guardedly expressed. The terms are à subitâ et improvisa morte,' i. e. from death sudden and unprovided for ;-the latter epithet qualifying, and in some degree explaining the former. The compilers, whilst they rejected the Popish dogma of extreme unction, seem to have adopted the notion of instantaneous conversion, or change of character and state; which notion appears to be countenanced by the administration of the sacrament, &c., in cases of sudden death. We leave the reader to form his judgment on the possible pernicious effect which the continuance of this practice may occasion.”—P. 43.

Mr. Barrett's Address at the Interment is pertinent to the occasion, serious and impressive. There is remarkable propriety in the phrase "straight-forward manly integrity," as applied to the character of Dr. Lindsay.

ART. III.—An Examination, &c. (Continued from p. 173.)

BIS

ISHOP MAGEE might have been expected to take up so popular a reproach against Unitarians as disrespect towards the Scriptures. He is a master in the use of polemical weapons, and he brandishes this topic most fiercely. He knew that his opponents professed attachment to the Bible, but as they dare to interpret it in a different sense from that of the Thirty-nine Articles, he treats that profession as a convenient mask or an insulting sneer."

66

Why does the Bishop not receive the books called Apocryphal? It cannot be merely that he is directed to renounce them by the canons of his he does, that there is sufficient weight church. But if he think, as no doubt of evidence against the authenticity of those books, why may he not allow that if the Unitarian, following some of the most distinguished members of his own church, reject the Three Witnesses text, 1 John v. 7, 8, it is because he is conscientiously satisfied that the evidence of its genuineness is defective? No one now vilifies Luther for his unseemly language with respect to the Epistle of James, nor Calvin for his free remark on the interpreters of