cellency consists in its following more closely than perhaps any other the fair and adequate meaning of every part of Scripture without regard to the niceties of human systems. It is a scriptural comment. Its originality is likewise a strong recommendation of it. Every part of it is thought out by the author for himself, not borrowed from others. It is not a compilation; it is an original work, in which you have the deliberate judgment of a masculine and independent mind on all the parts of Holy Scripture. Every student will understand the value of such a production. Further, it is the comment of our age, furnishing the last interpretations which history throws on prophecy, giving the substance of the remarks which sound criticism has accumulated from the different branches of sacred literature, obviating the chief objections which modern annotators have advanced against the doctrines of the Gospel, and adapting the instructions of Scripture to the particular circumstances of the times in which we live. It is again the work of one who was at home in what he did. It was the very undertaking which required, less than any other work, what he did not possess, and demanded more than any other, what he did-it required a matured knowledge of Scripture, skill as a textuary, sterling honesty, a firm grasp of truth, unfeigned submission of mind to every part of the inspired records, unparalleled diligence and perseverance-and these were the very characteristics of the man. When to these particulars it is added, that he lived to superintend four editions, each enriched with much new and important matter, and had been engaged above three years in a new one, in which, for the fifth time, he had nearly completed a most laborious revision of the whole work, we must at jeast allow its extraordinary importance.' The claims of this excellent man to the merit of distinguished usefulness as a writer, do not, however, rest entirely on his great Biblical undertaking. His" Force of Truth," (first published in 1779,) which is known to have been the means of recovering Henry Kirke White from infidelity, has been of the most important service to the cause of religion. His "Essays" are an admirable work, and in every respect worthy of the Author, whose distinguishing merit, perhaps, is judiciousness and clearness in the exposition of Scripture doctrines. His earlier writings, namely, his treatises on Repentance, Growth in Grace, and Faith, his sermon on Election, and his volume of Discourses, published between the years 1785 and 1797, had for their chief object to rescue the Evangelical doctrines from the reproach or the admixture of Antinomianism. The rest of his smaller works consist of an Answer to Paine, and other tracts in reply to infidel writers, Notes on the Pilgrim's Progress, a Reply to the Rabbi *The later editions are enriched with brief and valuable quotations from most writers of credit-but the substance of the work is his own; and the first edition contained scarcely a single passage of any other author.' Joseph Crool, in vindication of the Messiahship of Christ, occasional sermons, and detached papers in periodical works. To these are to be added, his elaborate Remarks on Bishop Tomline's Refutation of Calvinism, and his History of the Synod of Dort.+ Speaking of the "Essays on the most important "Subjects," above adverted to, and his reply to the soi-disant Refuter of Calvinism, Mr. Wilson says, in a note: These two last works appear to me incomparable, the one for the plain exposition, the other for the acute and masterly defence of truth. The comment,' he adds, should be a part of a student's constant reading. To turn to a few controversial pages, can afford no fair criterion of its merits. I can safely say, that after regularly consulting it for above five and twenty years, it rises continually in my esteem. Perhaps it is only fair to add, that his style is heavy and redundant, and that a want of clearness and method prevails in some of his productions, especially in his Sermons and his first edition of the Remarks.' In his Commentary, however, where he had only to follow the order of thought in the sacred book, the faults of method and style which detract from some of his other writings, are,' Mr. Wilson remarks, less apparent;' and in his Essays they are by no means prominent. The Rev. Thomas Scott was born at Braytoft near Spilsby, in Lincolnshire, in 1747. He was ordained deacon in 1772. 'The commencement of his faithful labours as a minister, may be dated from 1775, 6. He entered on the curacy of Olney in 1780; was chosen chaplain to the Lock Hospital, in 1785; and presented to the small rectory of Aston Sandford in 1801. Of the Lock Asylum, he was the entire founder; he was, for the first two years, secretary to the Church Missionary Society; and was among the earliest friends of the British and Foreign Bible Society, as well as of the Society for promoting Christianity among the Jews. He expired at Aston Sandford, after a long illness, on the 16th of April, 1821, in the seventy-fifth year of his age. A detailed narrative of his life, compiled partly from materials written by himself, is stated to be in preparation by one of his sons, of whom he has left three, all clergymen. The obituary contained in the second of these sermons, is highly instructive and affecting. Mr. Wilson finds himself compelled to assume, in the close of his remarks, the tone of apology and the language of vindication, in reference to the opprobrium cast upon his venerable * Eclectic Review. O.S. Vol. vii. p. 399. friend in common with others of the Evangelical clergy, as a Calvinist. The charge of Calvinism has, strange to say, be'come within these last few years, a favourite topic of declamation. But surely, this is a charge of much longer standing. It may, now and then, be revived with fresh vehemence, when a man wants to work his way to the Episcopal Bench, or when an individual of peculiar temperament gets enthroned upon it. But the charge must have been a pretty frequent subject of declamation, when Bishop Horsley many years ago cautioned his clergy, before they ventured on attacking Calvinism, to understand what Calvinism is. What does it signify, however, whether the Evangelical clergy are reviled as Calvinists, or as Bible men, or as Gospellers, or even as Puritans? If the present names of reproach were forgotten,' as Mr. Wilson justly observes, others would be invented.' After remarking that against many important particulars in the theology of Calvin (we were not aware there were many,') Mr. Scott himself protested in his Remarks, Mr. W. says: It would be an act of injustice in me not to add, that the Commentary of Calvin on different parts of Scripture is an eminently judicious and practical work. After two centuries and a half, it remains unrivalled in all the grand characteristics of a sound, and perspicuous, and holy exposition of the Sacred Book.' A similar testimony was borne to the great Reformer by Bishop Horsley; nor will the praise of being the most classical of modern Latinists, as well as the most judicious of commentators, be denied him, except through the veriest bigotry or ignorance. The merits and the character of Calvin are, however, matters of subordinate interest. The doctrines reviled as Calvinistic, are common to the most eminent of both the Continental and the English Reformers. Would our Reformers,' asks Mr. Wilson, have framed the eighty-seven Questions now imposed in the diocese of Peterborough? Or would the Author of those eighty-seven Questions have drawn up the thirtynine Articles?' Assuredly not. Those Articles have, manifestly, too Calvinistic a complexion to comport with the ideas or answer the purpose of the right reverend prelate; and yet, they are, confessedly, Calvinism in its mildest form. The points in dispute, Mr. Wilson is well aware, are not such as are peculiar to Calvinism: they are the vital doctrines of the Gospel, and there is nothing strange in their being unpalatable. That Mr. Wilson is, in the best sense, a Calvinist, although he may disavow the appellation as a party name, we cannot entertain a doubt. For this reason, we regret that he has fallen, as it appears to us, from excess of caution, into an unguarded style of expression in the following passage. VOL. XVI. N.S. Hlowing Since, therefore, we find only a very few thinly scattered texts on the subject of the secret will of God; but almost innumerable series of texts, yea, whole books of Scripture on other topics-on the fall and corruption of man, repentance, faith, the grace and mercy of God, the person and sacrifice of Christ, humility, love, peace, forgiveness of injuries, &c. &c. we endeavour to follow this order of instruction in our ministry. But then we cannot, we dare not wholly conceal any part of Scripture, or allow it to be, in its place, either useless or dangerous; nor can we soften or explain away the express and continually recurring truths of salvation, in order to avoid that humiliating doctrine of the Divine grace into which no doubt they ultimately flow.' Will Mr. Wilson bear with us when we say, that there is a want of explicitness in the terms which he has selected, which renders his language somewhat equivocal. It is by no means clear what he intends by the subject of the secret will of God,' and the humiliating doctrine of the grace of God.' If, by the former, he intends what is commonly but rather technically called the Divine decrees, and by the latter, the doctrine of Irresistible Grace, we quite agree with him, that a sacred reverence, a preponderating caution, and a constant reference to the devout uses of the doctrines, are the only proper manner in which they can be approached. But the humiliating doctrine of Divine Grace, so far from being intimated in a few thinly scattered texts, pervades, as he will readily admit, the entire system of Christian doctrine; we regret, therefore, that it should seem to be set in contrast, in this respect, to the topics of the fall of man, faith, repentance, &c., which are stated to occupy the substance of Scripture we regret that, in that enumeration, the fundamental doctrines of regeneration and transformation by the Spirit of God, should seem to be slurred over under the vague terms, the mercy and the grace of God. It is our solemn conviction, that no preaching is adapted to promote the great ends of the Evangelical ministry, in which these doctrines are not explicitly, boldly, and constantly maintained. With regard to the doctrine of Election, disincumbered from the technicalities of any theological school, and from the consequences rashly deduced from it, we cannot consent to the representation that it is adapted only to excite a fearful awe.' The view which is taken of it in the Seventeenth Article, is widely different. It is there stated, that the godly consideration of • Predestination and our Election in Christ, is full of sweet, pleasant, and unspeakable comfort to godly persons;' although its abuse by curious and carnal persons' is pointed out and deprecated. And this view accords with the purpose for which it is uniformly introduced in the Apostolic writings. The expression -a few thinly scattered texts,' is adapted to convey a defective idea of the peculiar manner in which the sacred writers refer to the subject in question-not dogmatically, not with preponderating caution and fearful awe, not even (if we may say so) guardedly; but incidentally, as to truths fully known and believed, and the holy tendency of which had not yet been questioned, and in the language of gratulation, as to a doctrine fraught with unspeakable comfort. The texts which more or less distinctly imply this doctrine, are by no means thinly scattered, although, owing to the incidental manner in which the most important doctrines of Revelation are conveyed, the passages may be comparatively few which can be pressed into the service of the controvertist. And if it be true, that innumerable series of texts, and whole books, treat of the fall of man, repentance, &c. it is equally true, that not one of these subjects is treated without a continual reference to the doctrines of Divine Grace, which are scattered, indeed, over the sacred pages, but it is as the rays of light are scattered over a wide surface. It is remarkable too, that the strongest and most striking enunciations of the more mysterious and offensive doctrines, (as they are deemed,) occur in connexion with practical exhortations,-in enforcing humility, 'love, peace, forgiveness,' &c., the topics which Mr. Wilson seems to oppose to them. The error of opposite theologians consists in separating them-in dwelling exclusively on certain doctrinal points, as detached dogmas, on the one hand, as if their use terminated in believing them; or in endeavouring, on the other hand, to expound the Christian scheme, and to enforce the Christian morality, without the aid of the considerations and motives deducible from those points of doctrine, to which it is thought enough to pay the occasional homage of a fearful reverence, or a formal avowal of assent.-In these sentiments, the estimable Author of these Sermons would, we persuade ourselves, concur, although his language is liable, we fear, to be misrepresented. As these Sermons are likely to be very soon in the hands of most of our readers, we deem it quite unnecessary to make any further extracts; but we cannot deny ourselves the pleasure of transcribing into our pages, the conclusion of some Hints for 'promoting a revival of religion,' from a discourse on Rom. xv. 29. by this venerable friend, which are thrown into an appendix. A great deal of Gospel truth may be preached and little good done, because we do not fairly use all the means in addressing and calling on sinners to repent and turn to God. We do not expect this fulness of blessing, and are satisfied without it. There is a littleness in our faith and conception of things. We do not ask nor expect this fulness, we have no idea of it, it does not enter our minds. Can we wonder, then, that the Lord says to us, According to thy faith be it unto thee?' But the Apostles went forth and expected and asked a |