we feel disposed to exclaim, "Who would not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy." It is not the correction of the servant's fault which strikes us most with the master's abhorrence of what is base and vicious; but when he chastens the child of his love, we see in the severity of his strokes how much he detests his faults, and how desirous he is to keep him from evil in fu

ture.

sin, the vengeance taken on their inventions counteracts its influence. In many cases they have been led by it to flee from the wrath to come: and when it has not produced a total change, it has checked the fury of their passions, and restrained them from excesses which would have been ruinous to others. These rebukes of Heaven have been mercy to the sufferer, and salvation to those around. The blow is severe, but it drives folly from the heart; and hot is the furnace, but by it the dross is purged away.

God acts in this manner that his people may stand in awe and not sin. An offence which is easily overlooked is readily repeated. It is a comfortable reflection to Who has not seen this in the be- the penitent, that it is only in this haviour of servants and of chil- world that they shall have any exdren? and if earthly governors perience of the frowns of Provishow a great degree of lenity to dence. In the world to come their the perpetrators of particular joy shall be unmixed, and the micrimes, they will undoubtedly pre- series which they at present suffer vail to a very great degree. Were will give additional relish to the no tokens of divine displeasure to bliss before them. If their repentfollow their offences, the penitents ance hath its due influence, God would become presumptuous and will turn again and have compascareless; they would not feel so sion on them, and they that sow in much dread of sin; they would tears shall reap in joy. He will not watch with such vigilance, nor not always chide, neither will he pray with so much fervour, that keep his anger for ever. The wise they might not enter into tempta- and good will rejoice over you as tion. It is true that higher and a brand plucked from the burning; nobler motives are addressed to your friends will honour you as them in the gospel than these; but mourners in Zion; even the men of religion avails itself of every princi- the world will respect a penitence ple of our moral constitution, and attended by meekness, humility, and while it appeals to our gratitude fear; in sickness and sorrow you and love, it rouses our fears. It will find God your refuge and your brings forth the terrors of the Lord strength; and in your lowly abode and the wrath of the Lamb, as well you will find that God will dwell as the riches of grace and the gen- with you. The agonies of a deathtleness of Christ. bed exert the Saviour's tenderest pity; the hand that wipes away the cold sweat from the face is stretched out in his compassion: and the voice that speaks peace to the trembling heart, works in his power. While he receives the departing spirit, he will fulfil your last wishes, and give his angels charge concerning your graves. "I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus: Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised 2 D

Such dispensations are a solemn warning to the impenitent. When they behold the humble and contrite thus afflicted, they must feel that God will not spare them; that if they receive not their punishment in this world, it is reserved for them in another, and will there seize upon them in the worm that never dies, and in the fire that shall never be quenched. If the offences of the penitent embolden them to Ch. Adv.-VOL. X.

Review.

tinguished member of the Church of England. We give him great credit for his frankness and can

recom

We shall make no farther remarks on what we publish from the Observer, in our present number; although there are a few points, in which we think he is not exactly accurate-As a whole, we much admire his fairness and candour; his extracts from the history are excellent and highly interesting. But if spared to the coming month, we shall contest some of the Observer's assertions, in regard to the doctrines of Calvin; and if we are not greatly in error, shall show that he is so, in at least one point of no inferior importance.

The part which is contained in the appendix we are about to lay before our readers-about one half in our present number; and the re-dour in this particular; and would mainder, we hope, in our next. take the opportunity to We believe that the republication mend to other Episcopalians, not of this portion of a Review, too to revile Calvin for the death of extended to be inserted at large, Servetus; not, at least, without will fill this department of our stating, at the same time, that work, for two months, as much to "Cranmer, in England, went far the edification of our readers as greater lengths in this false road any original articles that we might than Calvin." put in its place. It contains an account of the rise and progress of the Protestant Reformation in Geneva, and a summary view of the life and character of Calvin. It vindicates that great Reformer from the aspersions which, for centuries, have been cast on his character; and to us, we confess, the reading of it has been peculiarly gratifying, because it remarkably corresponds with what was written by us for the American edition of Rees's Cyclopedia-See the article Calvin. But we are classed, and very justly, with Calvinists; and may be supposed partial to the founder of the sect. This is not admitted by the Christian Observer to be his characteristick. On the contrary, he says expressly, speaking of the Reformers, "We are partisans of none of them; and least of all of the distinguished person [Calvin] whom Mr. Scott presents to our view." His favourable account of Calvin, therefore, and the representation he gives of the conduct of the Reformer in regard to Servetus, cannot be supposed to proceed from partial feelings. We acknowledge we were surprised to find the Episcopal Reviewer, when speaking of the trial and death of Servetus, saying without reserve, that "Cranmer, in England, went far greater lengths in this false road than Calvin" We were surprised, not because this assertion is not strictly true, or that we were ignorant of the fact, but at finding the statement coming from a dis

REVIEW OF SCOTT'S THIRD VOLUME.

We now turn with eagerness to the second division of this volume: we say with eagerness, because we cannot but hail the appearance of an impartial history of one of the greatest and most calumniated names of the Reformed churches. While we admire the grace of God in many of the leaders of the Reformation, we are partizans of none of them, and least of all of the distinguished person whom Mr. Scott presents to our notice. As Christians and Protestants, our code of faith is in the Bible, and not in any human interpretation of it, however in the main sound and excellent. On what is termed the Calvinistic controversy, we have seldom touched but as moderators between good men, who, holding different opinions on it, have not been always sufficiently ready to

weigh with calmness each other's conscientious difficulties. We have ever considered the grand vital truths of the gospel in the fall of man, and his destitution of every thing spiritually good-in the meritorious cross of our Divine Lord, and justification through faith only in his obedience unto death-in the regenerating and sanctifying operation of the Holy Ghost, and the fruits of faith and love, of holy tempers, words, and works-and in the ascription of our salvation, from first to last, to the merciful will of God our Heavenly Father, and not to our own works or deservings as independent of the particular manner in which the depths of the Divine councils may appear to different minds to be most scripturally explained. We enter, therefore, on the division before us with unbiassed judgment; and shall proceed to invite the attention of our readers to the state of the Reformation in Geneva, when Calvin appeared-to some of the chief circumstances of his life to the case of Servetus, which is generally considered as pressing most painfully on his memory-and to the instructive and interesting account of his closing days. Some reflections on particular points of his theology will naturally follow; the whole being intermingled with such

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marks on our author's execution of these several branches of his labour as may occur to us.

But we must first offer a single observation on the preliminary inquiry, how it has come to pass that so much interest should have attached itself to the name of Calvin: how it has occurred that, after nearly three centuries, we seem in all the asperity of a recent controversy respecting him: how his name, and theology, and history have acquired such an intense attraction and been the centre of such eager dispute.

that the time when he appeared, the strong and commanding cast of his talents-the depth of his personal piety-his undaunted courage-the large furniture of learning with which he was stored-his unwearied diligence and ceaseless promptitude in difficulties-his remarkable faculty as a preacher— the amazing extent of his correspondence-his surpassing merit as a commentator on the Scriptures-his firmness and tact as a leader in the free state where his influence was so predominant— the very position of that small republick on the borders of France and at the entrance on Italy-the refuge which it afforded to the persecuted Protestants in that division of Europe-the systematick form which he gave to the newly asserted theology of Luther and Zuingle, and his noble defence of that general scheme of doctrine, which identified it with the Reformation itself, as opposed to the mass of superstition, ignorance, and false worship maintained by the Church and Bishop of Rome; these things account for the eleva-、 tion to which he has been raised, and account also for the eager con- . troversy which has since disputed many of his positions and doctrines. As respects our own church, the controversy became naturalized among us by the intercourse of the Reformers with each other; the importation of some of the continental ones to our own shores, and the residence of some of our own on the continent during the Marian troubles; and in particular by the correspondence which some of our most eminent ecclesiastics held with Calvin himself, and the deference which they ever paid to his brotherly suggestions. All this will, we hope, become more apparent as we proceed with our remarks, in the order which we have suggested.

We commence with the date of The truth we conceive to be, the Reformation in Geneva, when