The remaining natural attributes of the deity, which are sufficiently evident from the preceding argument, are his eternity; self-existence; necessary, that is demonstrable exist ence; and spirituality. (p. 480.)

The twenty-fifth chapter considers "the Unity of the Deity;" the proof of which is stated to be the uniformity of plan observable in the universe. The universe itself is a system; each part either depending upon other parts, or being connected with other parts by some common law of motion, or by the presence of some common substance. In our own globe the case is clearer: the same order of things attends us wherever we go, and whatever department of nature we examine.

In the next chapter "the Goodness of the Deity" is treated at considerable length. The proof of it is made to rest upon the two following propositions: the first is, that in a vast plurality of instances, in which contrivance is perceived, the design is beneficial; the second, that the deity has super-added pleasure to animal sensations, beyond what was necessary for any other purpose, or when the purpose might have been effected by the operation of pain. (p. 488.)

The first of these positions is illustrated in a variety of instances of animal enjoyment, from the lowest to the highest rank of sensitive existence, and in the several stages of the same life. It is, however, allowed, that pain and privations exist, and to a degree, which, collectively, would be very great, if they were compared with any other thing than the mass of animal fruition. For the application, therefore, of his proposition to that mixed state of things which these exceptions induce, Dr. Paley conceives two rules to be necessary, and both, he thinks, are just. The one is, that we regard those effects alone which are accompanied with proofs of intention; the other, that when we cannot resolve all appearances into benevolence of design, we make the few give place to the many, the little to the great; that we take our judgment from a large and decided preponderancy, if there be one. The two cases which appear to have the most difficulty in them, as forming the most as we believe they are, from Dr. Paley's premises; does it not follow, of course, that the deity is infinite in all his attributes?

of the appearance of exceptoin to the representation here given, are those of venomous animals, and of animals preying upon one another. (p. 502.) These properties of animals, wherever they are found, must be referred to design; because there is in all cases of the first, and in most cases of the second, an express and distinct organization provided for the produc tion of them. We cannot, therefore, avoid the difficulty by saying, that the effect was not intended. The only question open to us is, whether it be ultimately evil. From the confessed and felt imperfection of our knowledge, Dr. Paley contends, that we ought to presume that there may be consequences of this economy which are hidden from us, and that from the benevolence which pervades the general designs of nature, we ought also to presume, that these consequences, if they could enter into our calculation, would turn the balance on the favourable side. With respect to the system of destruction amongst animals, it is particularly considered by the learned author, as holding an express relation to the system of fecundity; that they are, in fact, parts of one compensatory scheme. The case of venomous animals is stated to be not only of inferior consequence to that of prey, but, amongst other considerations, to be in some degree also included under itf.

The second proposition as to the super-addition of pleasure to animal sensations, is proved by the single instance of the act of eating. (p. 518.) It is also observed, that the argument holds equally as to all, or as to three, at least, of the other senses. The necessary purposes of hearing might have been answered without harmony; of smell, without fragrance; of vision, without beauty. In all these cases, a studious benevolence is manifest on the part of the creator.

The subject" of the Origin of Evil" is next considered by the learned author, (p. 527): of this he observes,

Although we have given a view of the reasoning which Dr. Paley employs to obviate the above difficulties, we are by no sons drawn from speculations respecting means satisfied of its legitimacy. Conclugeneral consequences must always be attended with uncertainty; but to assume them as the basis of important truths, is to open a door, as we conceive, for the most dangerous errors.

that no universal solution has hitherto been discovered. After stating the metaphysical answers to this most intricate question, viz. those which arise from the consideration of general rules, and of finiteness or what is resolvable into it, Dr. Paley proceeds to offer some observations of a more limited, but more determinate kind. These chiefly respect bodily pain, disease, and death; the alleviations and uses of which are stated with all the force and ingenuity of which they are capable. The evils of civil life are more easily and satisfactorily disposed of; because they are in truth of much less magnitude than physical evils, and also because they result not only from the constitution of cur nature, but from a part of that constitution which no one would wish to see altered.

All the evils which mankind, either individually or collectively considered, occasion to one another, are, according to Dr. Paley, to be resolved into the character of man as a free agent; without having recourse to any native gratuitous malignity in the human constitution." (p. 548.) This is, however, a sentiment which we conceive to be as contradictory to fact and experience, as it is to the dictates of revelation, and to those articles of religion which Dr. Paley has repeatedly subscribed. The ingenious reasoning of the learned author has only served to strengthen our conviction, that no satisfactory solution can be given of the moral evils prevalent in the world, which does not resolve them primarily and chiefly into an originally corrupt and depraved nature.

Another question with which Natural Theology has ever been pressed, viz. "Why, under the regency of a supreme and benevolent will, should there be in the world so much as there is of the appearance of chance," is very ably and, for the most part, satisfactorily answered. (p. 549.)

The learned author proceeds in the last place to state his opinion, that the most reasonable of all the views under which human life has ever been * In the same spirit Dr. Paley observes, (p. 547,)" that even the bad qualities of mankind have an origin in their good ones." We cannot but lament, that such pernicious and unscriptural sentiments should receive any countenance from an author of Dr. Paley's reputation.

considered, is that which regards it as a state of probation. (p. 561.)

"It is not," he observes, "a state of

umixed happiness, or of happiness simply; it is not a state of designed misery, or of misery simply; it is not a state of retribution; it is not a state of punishment: it suits with none of these suppositions; it accords much better with the idea of its tion, exercise, and improvement of moral being a condition calculated for the produc

which these qualities, after being so produced, exercised, and improved, may, by a new and more favouring constitution of things, receive their reward or become their own." (p. 562.)

qualities with a view to a future state, in

In these sentiments we coincide with Dr. Paley; we admit also that there is no situation in which a rational being is placed, from that of the best instructed Christian down to the condition of the rudest barbarian, which affords not room for moral agency; for the acquisition, exercise, and display of voluntary qualities good and bad. (p. 564.) But when the reverend author asserts, that a West Indian slave, who, amidst his wrongs, retains his benevolence, is amongst the foremost of human candidates for the rewards of virtue, we conceive that he mistakes altogether the ground of such rewards. This is not only in general to ascribe to man merit in the sight of God, but even to those who may be utterly devoid of any regard to his will: a principle as unfounded in reason as it is opposed to the whole tenour of revelation; a principle which we must consider as one of the strong holds of the ene mies of Christianity. Another senti ment, which immediately afterwards occurs, is equally dangerous: Dr. Pa ley seems to consider it as a point of but little importance, whether men are placed in a country which pos sesses or is destitute of the light of Christianity; that it may be agreeable to the variety which the wisdom of the deity has appointed in the moral economy of mankind, that different countries should be placed in different states of probation; and that our ultimate, or our most permanent happiness, will depend, not upon the temporary condition into which we are cast, but upon our behaviour in it. This may be partly true; but does it thence follow, that the knowledge of christianity is a matter of indifference; or that the advantages arising from it may be made the sub

ject of a cold and metaphysical calculation of chances? The communication of this unspeakable gift of God must surely be regarded, by all who have felt its efficacy, as constituting a vast and essential difference, both as to profit and loss, as to happiness and misery, in the moral condition of mankind.

The chapter concludes with some sensible observations concerning the advantages of the mixed state of happiness and misery in which we are placed, for the exercise of passive virtues; and of the degree of happiness which we usually enjoy in this life, as suited to a state of trial and probation for a future world.

We are far from wishing to diminish the evidence which the learned author has brought forward in this chapter concerning the goodness of the deity, though his assertion, that what is benevolence at all must in him be infinite benevolence, by reason of the infinite, that is to say, the incalculably great number of objects upon which it is exercised, might, as we conceive, by a change of terms, as easily be made to prove the infinite malevolence of the deity. But we consider this part of the work as materially defective. The goodness of God is the only moral attribute which is apprehended by Dr. Paley to be manifest, from the appearances of the natural world. No observation occurs as to the indications suggested by Natural Theology, concerning the holiness or justice of the deity; nothing of those tendencies of virtue to produce happiness, and of vice to produce misery, which are so judiciously collected and so unanswerably enforced by Bishop Butler, and analogically applied as proofs that the world is not now in the state in which it originally proceeded from the hands of the Creator, but that it is evidently in a state of degradation and ruinthat the Creator is a moral governor, and will ultimately rectify the disorders of the present world; and that the Christian plan of redemption, by atonement and grace, is supported and confirmed by the dictates of natural religion. Something of this kind we had a right to expect in the work before us; but upon all these points Dr. Paley is wholly silent; a silence which cannot, in the present instance, be attributed to inadvertence. Does CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 18.

then Natural Theology properly include only what is to be collected, concerning God, from organic and material nature? We conceive not. We apprehend that the degree of natural and moral evil which plainly exists in the world, however ingeniously it may be extenuated and explained, is a sufficient proof, that we are in a corrupt and depraved state, and consequently obnoxious to the displeasure of a Being whose holiness, or, at least, whose regard to virtue may be easily traced by an attentive observer of his moral government; and that, under these circumstances, our business is not merely to trust his benevolence, however clearly displayed; but also to inquire concerning the means of avoiding the effects of his punitive justice in a future world, from the manifest indications of it in this, It is on this account, that much as we admire a great part of this interesting work, as exhibiting a collection of very striking facts and decisive arguments for the existence of an all-wise, powerful, and beneficent Creator, we cannot but express our apprehensions, that the concluding chapters will, in many cases, be highly prejudicial to the cause of true religion. Too many, it is to be feared, pleased by the splendid detail of facts and illustrations which the work affords, and convinced, by the able use which is made of them, of the being and partially of the attributes of God, and meeting with nothing of religious doctrine to offend them, will take credit to themselves for the possession of all which is essential in religion, and thus fatally deceive themselves in this most important concern. Against such a delusion we would earnestly caution our readers. The belief of the existence of God is but a small step towards that knowledge of him, which is connected with salvation; as it facilitates, however, the belief of the fundamental articles of revelation, it is undoubtedly of great importance; and we have no hesitation in pronouncing the work of Dr. Paley to be in this view satisfactory and decisive. The concluding chapter, after some excellent observations upon the advantages of an habitual consideration of the be ing and attributes of the deity, is directed to this object, and particularly to the force with which the anterior belief of these truths of Natural The3 B

ology bears upon that grand point, which gives importance to all the rest; the resurrection of the dead.

We cannot close our review without adverting to an observation of Dr. P's in the dedication to the Bishop of Durham, and which seems to imply, that his present statement of the evidences of natural theology, together with his former publications, containing the evidences of revealed religion, and an account of the duties which result from both, constitute a complete system of Christian divinity. If this be the meaning of the learned author, we think it necessary to guard our readers against such a supposition: we wish not to derogate from the acknowledged importance of the subjects which have occupied the attention of Dr. Paley, or from the ability with which he has in general treated them. But we think it necessary to remark, that, according to our views of religion, the doctrines of Christianity form one most important branch of it; and many of these, though fundamental in their nature, have been wholly neglected by the Reverend Archdeacon. Let it, however, be observed, that in vain do we prove the being and attributes of God, and equally in vain do we prove Christianity to be true, and even add the delineation of the moral duties which result from it*, unless we so represent the corruption and guilt of man, the danger to which he is consequently exposed, and also the unspeakable mercy of God through Jesus Christ, as to humble the pride of the human heart; and to awaken a feeling of lively gratitude for our redemption; for it is, in fact, through the medium of the affections thus excited and exercised, and thus alone, that men are induced cordially to enter upon a course of moral and religious practice.

It would be unjust to conclude our * Even as a delineation of moral duties, we conceive Dr. Paley's "principles of moral and political philosophy" to fall far short of Christian morality, which is, in other words, Christian holiness. But when we consider the vague and mischievous principle on which he labours to found his system of morals, a principle differing only in name from that of Hume, and calculated to reduce "virtue to a mere computation of consequences," we must regard the advantages derived from that work as at least very problematical.

review without remarking, that the work before us is eminently distinguished by the acuteness and precision of its arguments; the happy perspicuity of its languaget, and the uncommon accuracy of the scientific information which it exhibits.

XCIX. An Essay on the Internal Evidences of Christianity; published in pursuance of the Will of the late Reverend John Hulse, of Elworth, in Cheshire, as having gained, in 1802, the annual Prize instituted by him in the University of Cambridge. By JOHN SCOTT, B. A. of Magdalen College; Master of the Grammar School, and Lecturer in the High Church of Kingston-uponHull, &c. 8vo. pp. 89. price 2s. Hatchard. 1803.

THE cause of religion has long been ably supported by many learned works on the external evidences of Christianity: we observe, with pleasure, that of late years, the internal proofs of its divine origin have also attracted considerable attention. These constitute an argument of great weight, and probably of more extensive influence than that which arises from the former: it lies in less compass, and does not require an extensive reading in him to whom it is addressed: it is more accessible, and therefore better suited to produce conviction in the bulk of mankind. This important subject, Mr. Scott, though a very young author, must be considered as having well understood. The tract which he has produced upon it is calculated to be highly useful, and we therefore hope, that it will have an extensive circulation.

The points on which Mr. Scott grounds the internal evidence of Christianity, are, the character which the Christian Religion ascribes to the Divine Being, the kind of religious worship which it requires, the piety which it breathes, the benevolence which it inculcates, and the agreement with fact in its doctrine of human depravity.

Dr. Paley has, perhaps, mentioned the deity rather too familiarly as a contriver on some occasions.

Dr. Paley ought to have made a more distinct acknowledgment than he has done of his obligations to "the religious philosopher."

The author then proceeds to consider some more peculiar points of the Christian system; such as the scheme of mediation, and the doctrines of justification, and of divine assistance. By some readers it may, perhaps, be thought, that these peculiarities of the Christian system, though essential parts of it, should rather have been maintained to be consistent with a religion of divine appointment, than brought forward as furnishing in themselves evidences of its divine origin, On fairly weighing, however, what Mr. Scott has advanced in his essay, we conceive it will be allowed, that though the evidence arising from these topics be not equally simple and striking with that drawn from the first mentioned points, yet they serve to shew, when contrasted with the deficiencies or absurdities of other schemes of religion, how admirably christianity is adapted to the obvious condition of man, a circumstance which affords an additional argument for the truth of Christianity.

In what christianity teaches relative to a future state, Mr. Scott points out some strong marks of its divine origin. After remarking that "the scriptural accounts of heavenly bliss are perfectly foreign from every idea of the sensualist, and as much superior to the apprehension of a philosopher who looks for happiness in physical or merely speculative science, as moral excellence and beauty is [are] superior to excellence and beauty of any other kind;" he asks, "whence had the men of Galilee this wisdom and these exalted conceptions?" It is worthy of notice likewise, that "the state of misery" which Christianity reveals, "is not, like that of Mahomet, to be the portion of infidels only who reject the religion, but of all, whether professed Christians or not, who are not good men." "This," as our author observes, "is worthy of God, according to the best notions we are able to form of his attributes. But here is no consulting of human passions, no accommodation to corrupt propensities." (p. 67.)

The character which Christianity tends to form, unquestionably affords another striking proof of its authenticity. Mr. Scott, in considering this head, has shewn the marked superiority of the morality of the Gospel over the ethics of the best heathen writers.

In the succeeding chapter, the enu

meration of internal evidences is brought to a close, by some short remarks on each of the following prominent circumstances in the Christian religion; namely, the peculiarity of its object; its complete detachment from all schemes of worldly policy; the practical tendency of all its parts; its humbling tendency; its freedom from all accommodation to the corrupt taste and vicious passions of mankind; the harmony of the sacred writers among themselves, and of the several parts of Christianity with each other; and lastly, the completeness of Christianity, in affording us all needful information concerning the nature of God and of man, our duty, our danger, and our remedy.

The conclusion of the essay consists of three parts: the first, is a serious exhortation to those who are not well established in the Christian faith, to examine its evidences "with that seriousness which the importance of the subject demands;" the second, points out the duty of making ourselves acquainted with the real nature and design of Christianity, a duty to which it is to be feared many, who call themselves Christians, stand in great need of being excited; in the third part, the author endeavours to convince his readers, that their duty is not completed by acquainting themselves with the nature of this divine religion. "If a just understanding of Christianity is important and necessary, it is," as he observes "as a means to a further end. The point of importance is, that our hopes be practically built upon its promises, and our tempers, dispositions, and judgments formed, and our conduct regulated according to its rules."

We recommend this well written discourse to Christian families. The reasoning contained in it may be casily comprehended. It is, therefore, well adapted to guard young minds against the influence of those publications, by which infidel writers are labouring to exterminate the belief of Christianity.

C, The Divine Inspiration of the Jewish Scriptures or Old Testament asserted by St. Paul, 2 Tim. iii. 16. and Dr. Geddes's Reasons against this Sense of his Words examined. By ROBERT FINDLAY, D. D. Professor of Theology in the Universi