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ed from misconception and reproach? Is this the faith by which Abraham was led to offer up his son; or that by virtue of which believers "walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit?" Impossible. The notion is monstrous. It is to put "light for dark"ness, and darkness for light." The nature and genuine results of this lifeless thing usurping the name of faith, are well exhibited in Mr. Payne's very seasonable and useful little performance. He has evidently considered the subject with no small care, and has had good opportunities of witnessing the practical operation of this modern succedaneum for Christian principle. remarks:

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It is not wonderful that all lively and spiritual religion should be at a low ebb among his (Mr. S.'s) followers; that they should scoff at religion itself, indeed, deriding good dispositions, grace in the heart, spiritual enjoyments, frames, experiences, &c., though there can be no true Christianity without them; that they should be conformed to the present world, neglect family worship, use much freedom on the Lord's day; that the play-house should be a favourite amusement with some of them, their pastors not excepted; that they should divert themselves with balls and routs, and other merry makings, accompanied with music and dancing; that they should act plays in one another's houses, and perform a number of harlequin tricks, and ridiculous buffooneries; that they should display a spirit in utter hostility to the spirit of the Gospel-all of which Mr. M'Lean assures us is the case; and that they should do all this to shew that they are not depending upon their works, is surely nothing more than a slight acquaintance with the deep-rooted depravity of the human heart might have led us certainly to predict.' p. 74.

Such a faith no doubt fulfils the purpose for which alone the recommendation of it was framed: it excludes unquestionably all rational grounds of confidence in it as a work, a good work; but then it is totally inefficient for any other salutary purpose. If it cures, it is by killing; if it saves a man from being condemned as a Pharisee, it leaves him to perish as an evil doer.

Yet, strange and deplorably erroneous as is this notion of faith, it seems to have sprung originally, and it is still cherished by some, from a laudable principle. The object is to exclude from the belief of the Christian, meritorious efficacy, and to guard from depreciation the honours of the Divine sovereignty. This jealousy for the uncontaminated exclusiveness of Grace in the. salvation of man, pushed to an extreme, led step by step to the conclusion, that in order to strip faith of merit, we must well nigh deprive it of its moral properties; that to render it harmless, it is necessary to make it useless! First, it must be shewn that in its nature it does not denote any exercise of the affections, and then, that it is independent of any act of the mind; in short, that itself is no work, and that it produces none; the very characteristic of what St. James terms a dead faith, the faith of devils. Such is the consequence of indulging theory,

by fixing the mind on one point, and pursuing it without the guidance of Scripture.

Not all persons. however, whose views on the subject are involved in mistake, have proceeded to this excess. The incipient principle, that faith is simple credence, is maintained by many who so define and mould their notions, as, in their opinion, to guard them from dangerous inferences. Though erroneous in doctrine, they are orthodox in life: though mistaken in judgement, they are holy in feeling. They differ from other Christians in their notion of the nature of faith, but they agree in their ideas of its effect: they admit that it "works by love," and purifies the heart.

The question, however, is one, not of speculation, but of fact: it is not what notion we may attach to the word, but what sense does it actually bear in Scripture. The word, is derived from the third person pret. passive of the verb rude, which is again deduced from. Hence the gradations of meaning: I bind, I bind to my opinion, party, or purpose, (as a ship moored to the shore is held by the usa,) I persuade. radar is to induce, both by convincing the judgement and moving the passions. To πείθειν is the end proposed by an orator. πειθω is the goddess of persuasion, and it is put also for the persuasive quality of a discourse. , therefore, is that property of the mind which is generated by the prevalence of persuasion. The same meaning attaches to the Latin fides, and the English faith, both of which have the same origin. The verb is formed from the nouns, and therefore denotes that act of the mind which is the consequence of being fully persuaded; a complex act, involving both the intellect and the will. Credere has a similar

amplitude of meaning.

Words, however, are employed with great latitude of application, and the etymological is not always the conventional sense; much less is it the sense intended either by every writer, or every distinct class of writers. The same words have different acceptations in different sciences. To ascertain the meaning of a word, we must, therefore, consider the subject of discussion, and the usage of those who have treated upon that particular department of knowledge. It is no less absurd in Theology than it would be in Mathematics, to say that every term must mean just what it does in common life. The only satisfactory way, therefore, of determining the true meaning of the term faith, is, to investigate the senses in which it is employed in Scrip

ture.

In the sacred pages we find the term adopted to express the belief of a testimony as true: " He that believeth not God "hath made him a liar, because he believeth not the record that "God gave of his Son." Observing this application of the

term in Scripture, Sandeman and his followers, in their eagerness to simplify, assumed this as the only Scriptural meaning of the term. But is this the fact? Do not the New Testament writers employ the word in other senses, and, if so, are they not equally Scriptural? So far is the term from being restricted to the simple sense of admitting a testimony, that it is, on the contrary, most usually employed in a 'complex meaning,* so as to include desire, love, confidence, trust, the active resort of the mind in trouble, and other correspondent ideas. The error of the Sandemanians arises, therefore, from imperfect induction. They have not compared together the different parts of Scripture which relate to this subject; but have laid an undue, an exclusive stress upon one or two insulated texts. Assent to the truth of testimony, which is the simply philosophical notion, is indeed an essential part of faith, for without it the word cannot be properly employed; but, according to the Scriptural mode of applying the term, it is by no means its full sense. The consequence, therefore, of assuming this restricted notion to be the only true one, and of ascribing to faith in this confined sense, all that is ascribed to it in the word of God, must inevitably involve us in most serious error. To contend that this simplifies the subject, that it cuts off all occasion for glorying in faith as a work, or that it is adapted to impart ready comfort to the troubled mind, would, even if the representation were just, be nothing to the purpose. The question is, can we be justified in relying upon that representation? If not, whatever supposed advantages might spring from adopting it, we are bound at the peril of our safety to abandon it.

But what need is there for this new notion of faith? Is it necessary in order to shew that we cannot consider faith as a work, cannot attribute to it any meritorious property,-cannot

"That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted "in Christ, in whom ye also trusted." "In whom also, after ye "believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise." " For "therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in "the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, especially of those "that believe." "I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded "that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him against "that day."" Jesus Christ did not commit himself to them (x

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Εσεν εαυτον αυτοις). "They that gladly received the word were "baptized," &c. "But ye believe not, because ye are not of my "sheep; my sheep hear my voice and they follow me." "These "all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen "them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them." "With the heart men believe unto righteousness." "He that be"lieveth not is condemned already, and this is their condemnation, "that men loved darkness rather than light."

receive eternal life otherwise than as the gift, "the free gift of "God, through our Lord Jesus Christ?" What possible merit can there be in regarding the blessed Redeemer as a Saviour, and in accepting him in this character for, our own individual salvation? Would the knowing that an estate is a good thing, our desiring it, or, in case of a bequest, our accepting it, involve as a consequence, that we deserved that estate, or lessen in any degree the freeness of the bequest which should confer it? Would the person on whom it was conferred ever think of saying, that his accepting it, accepting it thankfully, was deserving it; much less that it annihilated, or lessened, the kindness or love of his friend? Besides, the very faith of which we are speaking, is itself a gift,-" the gift of God." We are therefore in every sense "justified freely through his "grace;" for, though we are justified by faith, that faith is not of ourselves," but is originated in us by the power of the Divine Spirit.

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There is really no solid advantage, on the one hand, to be derived from the metaphysical notion of faith, as consisting in a simple acknowledgement of truth it will not lessen by a unit, the number of Pharisees. Mr. Haldane's remark is very just, that it is very possible for men to make a righteousness of what they call their clear and simple views of the Gospel; and thus to get into the very temper of the Pharisees, looking on themselves with complacency, and on others with contempt.' On the other hand, this view of faith is fraught with many dangers, which are ably exposed in the tract of Mr. Payne. As Sandeman's notions have of late been travelling Southward, it may be of no small use to see the effect of them, as it exists in the country where they have for some time flourished. The topics particularly discussed are, as stated in the title-page,the moral influence of the Gospel upon believers; the 'Scriptural manner of ascertaining our state before God;' 'the radical error of the Glassite or Sandemanian system ;' and the Scripture doctrine of Divine influence.' These subjects are treated with much discrimination and force of reasoning, and in a manner worthy of a pious, sensible, thinking man. Mr. Haldane's Letters are more directly controversial: they treat of the following subjects: the spirit and temper of Mr. Walker's letters; on forbearance; on discipline; on marked separation; on oaths; on baptism. This last topic occupies nearly half the pamphlet. Mr. Haldane's name stands too high to render it necessary for us to bear our testimony to the piety and ability displayed in all his writings; these letters, however, though we could not with any propriety omit to notice them, embrace topics on which we are pledged not to enter.

Art. VI. Amarynthus, the Nympholept: à Pastoral Drama, in three Acts. With other Poems. fcap 8vo. pp. 232. London. 1821. THIS is, we think, the most successful effort that has yet

been made by any contemporary poet, to revive a very elegant species of poetical literature, which falls more immediately within the province of the Fancy. Leigh Hunt's "Descent of "Liberty," though slight and somewhat fantastical, is a brilliant imitation of the manner of our old poets, and must be allowed to be highly picturesque and imaginative. Mr. Cornelius Neale, in his "Lyrical Dramas," has displayed less fancy, but more feeling; there is in them less allegory and more romance. His" Love's Trial" is a beautiful little piece. If we feel disposed to rank the present poem above these, it is from no wish to institute an invidious and disparaging comparison, but on the ground of its more finished, rich, and erudite character as a composition, while it is inferior to neither in dramatic interest. The explanation of the title, we shall give in the Author's own words.

The Nuuonto of the Greeks, and the Lymphati or Lymphatici of the Romans, were men supposed to be possessed by the Nymphs, and driven to phrenzy, either from having seen one of those mysterious beings, or from the maddening effect of the oracular caves in which they resided. Plutarch particularly mentions that the Nymphs Sphragitides haunted a cave on Mount Citharon, in Bœotia, in which there had formerly been an oracle, and where, from the inspiration they diffused, Nympholepsy became an endemic complaint. According to Festus, it was formerly thought that all those who had merely seen the figure of a nymph in a fountain were scized with madness during the remainder of their lives. Ovid himself dreaded this event, as appears by the lines in the fourth book of his Fasti.

"Nec Dryadas, nec nos videamus labra Dianæ,

Nec Faunum medio cùm premit aura die;"

And Propertius also alludes to the same belief, when, in describing the happiness of the early ages, he exclaims,

"Nec fuerat nudas pœna videre deas."

'It was the popular opinion throughout the whole of Greece, that the nymphs occasionally appeared to mortals, and that the consequences of beholding them were generally to be deprecated: the result among such a superstitious and imaginative people may easily be conjectured. Terror combined with religion in disposing the mind to adopt delusion for reality; and visions became frequent and indisputable in exact proportion to the prevalence of timidity and enthusiasm.

The Author is not aware that Nympholepsy has been made the subject of poetical experiment, or that the religious scepticism and excitement prevalent in Greece at the period to which he has as

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