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not really more contingent than those of another. We can imagine ourselves to be placed in circumstances, wherein we could foretel certainly what our conduct would be; (supposing no other causes than those which we are aware of, will be present to influence us ;) and yet, while we thus think of our future conduct as certain, or necessary, we still feel ourselves perfectly free. We are sure that we are free agents, whenever we can choose, and follow our choice. The future actions of men are known to God, because he knows all the causes that will influence their actions.'

The size of the volume will not justify our making any further extracts. These will suffice to shew that it has no ordinary pretensions to clearness, accuracy, and strength of reasoning. Although, from the nature of the subjects, there is little that can be considered as absolutely new in the matter, the work is distinguished from a mere compilation, by that air of originality which every subject acquires from being passed through the mind of a vigorous thinker. The marks of this process are visible in every sentence, in the condensation and simple force of the language. It is evidently the production of a person long habituated to close thinking, and familiar with the whole range of metaphysical inquiry. It cannot fail to be highly acceptable to the higher classes in schools, and may be consulted with great advantage by persons of all ages, who wish to extend or to correct, at a small expense of time, their imperfect acquaintance with the terms and subjects to which it relates.

Art. VI. Lectures on the Reciprocal Obligations of Life; or a Practical Exposition of Domestic, Ecclesiastical, Patriotic, and Mercantile Duties. By John Morison, Minister of Trevor Chapel, Brompton. 12mo. pp. 362. Price 7s. London. 1822.

WHILE the prelate and the professor are issuing from their palace or their snug prebendal stall, their refutations of that most pernicious of all heresies, Calvinism, and demonstrating how a belief in Predestination and Original Sin must needs cut up morality by the roots, and destroy all motive to virtue, the abettors of those horrible doctrines are silently evangelizing society by their labours, opposing to the calumnies of their assailants the unanswerable rhetoric of consistent and holy lives. From Calvinism has proceeded the spirit of missions and the spirit of translations, which have wrought such moral and such literary wonders as have compelled the admiration of the sceptic and silenced the scorner; and from Calvinism, unquestionably, has the impulse chiefly been de rived, which has put in motion the vast machinery of benevo、

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dence at home. Calvinism is perpetually originating no small portion of the practical exertions which are being made for the melioration of society; and of the works which issue from the press," having for their object the inculcation of practical Christianity, the larger proportion will be found to have been furnished by Calvinists. Such a volume as the present is an answer to a thousand speculations about the tendency of Calvinistic doctrines; and if their opponents would but descend from hypothesis to facts, the believers in those reprobated doctrines need not shrink from the most rigid application of the Scriptural test, "By their fruits ye shall know them."

This is the motto which Mr. Morison has adopted in his titlepage; and vain are all pretensions to religion which will not stand this test. If we once abandon the axiom, that practice is the touchstone of principle, we are left without any certain criterion of either the Divinity of the Revelation or the sincerity of individual profession. That which forms the chief among the internal evidences of the truth of Christianity itself -its holy tendency, must occupy the same place, and possess the same importance, as an evidence of the truth of dification of the Christian system. The minute and circumany mostantial requirements of that system relate to all the duties of social life. It is when viewed in this light, and separated from all those corruptions and defects which so often attach to her professors,' that our holy religion appears in all its native grandeur and simplicity. A sincere and upright Christian must,' Mr. Morison contends, be a good relative cha'racter.'

This might have been doubted, indeed, had Christianity been silent on the subject, or had it contained some general directions only, which admitted a construction suited to the varied prejudices of mankind; but, since the reverse of this is the case, and since the discharge of every rela tive duty is constituted an essential and indispensable part of practical piety; since the various relations are classified, and the various duties belonging to each distinct class pressed home with fidelity on the human conscience, how can any one who is not attentive to his relative obligations, look for a participation in that hope which the Gospel reveals? If Christianity consisted in a few insulated principles, like most of the systems of antiquity, or even in a harmonious creed adjusted with the utmost precision in all its parts, the charge might be brought against it, that it did not provide sufficiently for the relative responsibilities of life; but when its uniform character, as delineated by the inspired writers, is that of a hallowed influence pervading the whole man, dwelling in every faculty, controlling every action, and imparting a character of integrity and beneficence to the entire deportment; the impious neglecter of relative duty can neither live in the possession of a good conscience, nor maintain the evidence of an accepted state. What is Christianity, after

all, to any of us, if we fail to embody its principles, and spirit, and precepts, in the every-day movements of life? Men may dream of a Christianity dissociated from all moral influence, but, ere long, they will find, in their mournful experience, that it is only a dream; and when all the mists and prejudices of this dark world shall have vanished, the hoary speculatist inreligion, who never felt its transforming energy in his heart, nor its holy influence in his life, will awake up to all the realities of endless despair.' pp. 16, 17.

Mr. Morison expresses an apprehension, in his preface, that the habits of many professors of religion in these eventful times, render the honest enforcement of Relative Duties, not only desirable, but peculiarly obligatory on the Pastor.,

For, irrespectively of the influence which public exertions for the conversion of the world may have in diverting the mind from the sober and unostentatious virtues of private life, it is (he says) not a little to be feared, that with not a few of the professed advocates of Salvation by Grace, the full detail of Relative Duties is becoming every day more unpopular. It is a remarkakle circumstance, that, while the class alluded to are never offended with the most ample announcement of Christian privileges, an instant jealousy springs up in their minds when a preacher ventures to speak plainly and pointedly, although it may be affectionately and evangelically, on the specific obligations which we owe to each other in the stations which Divine Providence has assigned us. If duties are merely implied, the Preacher will readily be tolerated; but if he proceeds to examine them minutely, and to exhibit those states of mind which are opposed to their progress, he is in no small danger of being reproached for the want of orthodoxy. Such a perverted taste ought surely, if possible, to be banished from the Church of Christ; and no effort, however feebie, will be undervalued by the judicious and candid, which is directed towards the accomplishment of this most desirable object.'

There is nothing, however, uncommon or difficult to be accounted for in this morbid distaste for the preceptive parts of Christianity. Those are emphatically the hard sayings." We are convinced that it requires a high degree of spirituality of mind, to welcome and relish the full and faithful enforcement of personal and social duties,-a much higher degree than is requi site in order to enjoy all the doctrinal peculiarities of any system of religious truth. To" delight in the law of God after the "inward man," is an attainment which implies a far more advanced state of character, than to delight in the discovery of á way of escape for the guilty. And it is only such a holy acquiescence in the Divine Law, and a sincere desire to be in all things conformed to its dictates, that can render practical subjects really interesting to the mind. We know that this is not the usual view which is taken of the subject. There is a sort of ethical preaching, which borrows more from Epictetus than

from Paul, although, to do justice to the heathen moralist, it often falls short even of what he has taught,-an insipid, generalizing morality, which can be endured by persons to whom the preaching of the Cross is foolishness, and the doctrines of Grace a stumbling block. But it is of the religious world that we are now speaking, within which, those doctrines may be supposed to have lost their repulsive character through familiarity, if they have not been sincerely received; and we are firmly persuaded, that in reference to persons religiously educated or the regular attendants upon an evangelical ministry, it holds good, that the highest strain of doctrinal preaching requires less intellectual and less spiritual advancement to have been made, in order to its being cordially and attentively listened to, than a strain of practical instruction which should follow the Christian into the family circle, the counting-house, the exchange, and all the spheres of social life. This style of preaching is apt to be considered as dry, as elementary, as suited to young persons or novices; and the hearer often deceives himself by referring his distaste to his love of the dis tinguishing doctrines of religion; in fact, to his superior spirituality. It is not the kind of preaching, he hopes, that he stands in need of. It is very proper to take such subjects now and then, and he hopes it will do good to such and such classes, for whom doubtless it was intended; but it is not the description of sermon that he prefers.' But the truth is, that this distaste arises from the partial character of his own personal religion, from the languid play of his affections, from the low degree of his attainments. And if there is any correctness in Mr. Morison's representation, it only goes to prove, that amid the widely extended profession of religion, and the outward zeal and activity which so honourably characterize the present remarkable era in the history of the Church, there is too prevailing a deficiency of spirituality, and consequently a distaste for topics bearing on the minuter branches of personal duty. If this be the case, or whether this be the case or not, Mr. Morison deserves the best thanks of the religious public for having brought distinctly before them the subject of Relative Duties. His example, we trust, will have its effect, and be followed in the pulpit; while his volume cannot fail to be very extensively useful.

The subjects of these Lectures are as follows: Domestic Relations. 1. Introductory. 2. Marriage the Institution of Heaven. 3. Conjugal Duties. 4. Parental Obligations. 5. Filial Obligations. 6. Obligations of Masters. 7. Obligations of Servants. Ecclesiastical Relations. 8. Pastoral Duties. 9. Duties of a People to their Minister. Patriotic Relations. 10. Duties of

Kings and Subjects. Mercantile Relations. 11. High Impor tance of Mercantile Integrity. 12. Improvement of Talents.

We do not know that we can select a passage that will place in a fairer light the integrity, the explicitness, and the sound discretion which characterize these Lectures, than one which occurs in the second Lecture, on a subject of equal delicacy and importance, respecting which, the greatest practical mistakes are daily committed in opposite directions. Speaking of the union of a believer to an unbeliever,' as necessarily in⚫ compatible with that unanimity of sentiment, that cordiality of heart, and that sameness of pursuit, which constitute at once the security and the ornament of wedded life,' the Preacher proceeds:

If the judgement of a good man were left without bias on the expediency of such a union, he could not fail, before advancing a single step, to ask himself the following questions --How far is such a connexion likely to contribute to mutual comfort ?—Is it within the limits of Christian prudence?-If I enter into it, shall I “ abstain from all appearance of evil?"-What influence will it have on private and family devotion?Is there any reason to believe that the benediction of Heaven will rest upon it? Where is the promise, that, in doing evil, good will come ?—— Should any change be wrought, is it not probable that it will be in myself, and may not that change be for the worse?-Can I then rush forward into such a connexion, and risk my happiness, my domestic peace, my personal religion,-my very soul? Reflection, prudent forethought, and a due regard to expediency, might teach a Christian' man all this,—and would certainly teach him, but for the irresistible voice of misguided and blind affection.

But why do I speak of expediency on such a vital question as this? Christians are not here abandoned to expediency,--to their own natural sense of right and wrong, and to the faint glimmerings of a conscience partially illuminated; they are directly prohibited from marrying, except "in the Lord;" and one plain commandment should be as a thousand.

I am aware of the modes of reasoning which too many resort to, in order to escape the force of this authoritative prohibition, and to still the clamour of an accusing conscience. The Object, they tell you, of their affection, though not completely decided, is, nevertheless, very favourable to religion; her disposition is exceedingly tractable, and they entertain no doubt of winning her over to the truth;-they have so far arranged, by mutual consent, that their religious views and feelings shall never be a ground of dispute;-and they have no doubt that, after a time, they will see eye to eye, and go hand in hand, in the great matters of their eternity. Alas! how many have thus reasoned, and found themselves in the end, after all their high-wrought hopes, miserably deceived! It must always be extremely hazardous to reason in the face of a Divine command, and this is precisely the condition of every one who labours to persuade him self of the propriety of marrying an enemy of the Lord.

I am very far from thinking, however, that a Christian may not, in