sitated not to push their principles to the very wildest conclusions, and to involve the very first principles both of morals and religion in the same confusion. It was then that Clarke and others stepped forth to rebuke the follies of Spinoza and Hobbes. The deistical controversy, however, did not (properly speaking) begin till quite the latter end of the seventeenth century. It raged with unremitted fury from that period till the middle of the eighteenth; it then slept for some years; but has been revived with equal obstinacy in our own times.

It was during the first half of the last century, however, that the storm spent almost all its wrath. It was then that, almost simultaneously, infidelity attacked Revelation at nearly every point, -changing its weapons and its modes of attack with most Protean facility. Now it gravely called in question the historic testimonies; now set in formidable array the apparent discrepancies of Scripture. Here, it took high à priori ground, and pronounced a revelation to be needless, and that every man was a revelation to himself: there, on the same ground, it proved miracles to be impossible. Now it assailed the prophecies, and shewed that they had had but a figurative fulfilment; while some of its champions-the desperate forlorn hope-denounced even the morality of the Bible! The defenders of Revelation were not a whit behind their assailants: from every one of these 'refuges of lies,'

The parting genius was with sighing sent.'

It will be sufficient to mention a few of their names who met in battle on that field, to shew that it was one of the most fiercely contested which the adventurous history of controversy presents. On the one side appear Conybeare, Chandler, Leland, Lardner, and BUTLER himself a host; while on the other side were ranged Chubb, Tindall, Collins, Bolingbroke, Morgan, and many others. So exhausted was the controversy, at least on the infidel side, that though Christianity has gained much, since that day, by a more happy distribution and arrangement of evidence, as well as by the occupation of much new territory, infidelity has done nothing but vamp a-new long-demolished theories ;—except when, in quest of something like novelty, it hits upon one of those paradoxical absurdities to which we have already referred. And even for the new ground which Christianity has occupied, we are largely indebted to those great men who defended her in that conflict,-to the extensive application of principles which they had already partially employed. In how many forms, for instance, has the one great principle which gave birth to the book of Butler been applied! And what a treasury of facts for Paley were Lardner's Testimonies! It reminds one of David laying up the materials of which Solomon was to build the temple. The first part of Paley's admirable work on the Evidences, is uni

versally known to be little more than a happy condensation of Lardner's great work.

The volume which has given rise to this train of remark, is occupied principally with the Internal Evidences,—that department, which, as we have already intimated, still presents inexhaustible materials for further argument. By the words, internal evidences, we include all those arguments which may be derived from the sacred volume itself, whether historical or of any other kind; whether directly, or by a comparison of its various parts. To mention a few particulars; we include, that general air of truth and reality with which the whole narrative of the sacred volume irresistibly impresses the mind, and which is resolvable into a vast number of particulars, many of which it is impossible by any analysis to detect and classify, but which unconsciously influence the mind;we include, the harmony and keeping of the sacred narrative, (viewing it merely as a piece of history,) a harmony which, considering the infinity of details, the endless particularity which the sacred volume presents, could never have been kept up in a work of imagination, and for which nothing but its truth will enable us to account; we include, the congruity that is so apparent in the whole volume, viewing it as one continuous system of truth, the gradual revelation of divine wisdom; an argument multiplied ten thousand fold in force, when we recollect the many ages during which it was slowly developing, the many instruments by which it was unfolded, and the disjointed, unsystematic form in which, after all, it is handed to us; rendering the very idea of concert not only absurd, but impossible. With respect to the character of the Revelation itself, we include the superhuman sublimity of many of its disclosures; the inimitable simplicity with which the profoundest moral truths are enunciated; the extraordinary nature of the principal doctrines, so far remote from any which human imagination would be likely to invent ;-the argument from fact, that this book reveals the profoundest depths of our moral nature, and proffers a system of doctrines which by experience is found to be exactly adapted to it; a system of doctrines capable, in a way no other system ever was, of elevating and purifying the soul;-the argument from a diligent analysis of this system of doctrines, which, the further it is carried, the more clearly explains the fact just alluded to, and reveals an exquisite mechanism in the gospel, nicely calculated to operate with overwhelming power upon every spring of action within us: all which arguments again are to be multiplied by the produce of the following arguments derived from the improbability that such a Revelation (abstractedly unlikely to be invented under any circumstances) should have been conveyed in such a mode and by such instruments. As to the instruments, they were men, therefore no more likely than other

religious impostors (supposing them, for argument's sake, to have been such) to invent a system so pure, holy, self-denying and spiritual; they were illiterate and ignorant; therefore infinitely unlikely to invent a system (merely regarding it as every one must admit it to be) so singularly original, as well as beautiful and sublime. Then as to the mode; they have, in addition to the inconceivable difficulty of constructing such a system at all, chosen just the most difficult of all possible methods of expounding it; not in a straight-forward, didactic, ethical way, but by what, when well done, is the highest of all intellectual achievements; we mean, embodying a system in examples-in the words and actions of a living character-himself a combination of all wonderful and, one would at first think, heterogeneous qualities, and yet, blended together here so as to form a character, full of harmony, grandeur, and purity; at other times expounding their doctrines in fragments, just as incidental circumstances elicited them; and again, adding to all these difficulties, the additional and gratuitous one of imagining a fictitious course of narrative and writing a series of feigned letters, in all which an inconceivable variety of petty circumstances (just where fiction so soon betrays itself by its inconsistency) must be attended to, while the main plot is still developing in all its intricacy and complication. But there are a thousand other topics included under this large head of internal evidences, which the time would fail us to mention ; and then, when they have been all put forth, and their individual force estimated, they are to be viewed collectively, and in relation to one another; and the probability is to be estimated, (who with merely a mortal mind could fully estimate it?) that such a system, in which such complication and variety of evidence converges to one point, should be false? When a mind that has fairly traversed the ground of the evidences of Christianity, can believe this, he is just fit to believe the atomic theory.

It is obvious, that the field of the internal evidences is so large as not soon to be exhausted. As each part of the Bible may be viewed in relation to every other part, and every part to the whole, it is plain that innumerable analogies will be constantly presenting themselves, which may form the foundation of a striking argument, perhaps of a whole series of arguments. What a happy thought was that which suggested to Paley, a comparison of the Acts of the Apostles with St. Paul's Epistles. What a fruitful source of vast numbers of convincing coincidences! And who shall say how far it may yet be carried? Nay, how far has it already been carried both in reference to the Old and New Testament !

But we must proceed to speak of the volume which has given rise to the above remarks. We are disposed to regard it, on the whole, as one of the most valuable contributions which modern

scholarship has presented to that important branch of theology with which it is occupied. Before proceeding to point out those parts of the volume which we deem most interesting, we shall make a few remarks on its general character, and on one or two defects with which we think it chargeable. We cannot help thinking, then, that very many of its readers will charge it with obscurity; not in parts, but as a whole; not in detail, but as regards the general object which the Author has in view. How is this to be accounted for? It does not arise from any obscurity in the several parts of the reasoning; for the Author is evidently gifted with one of the clearest and most logical understandings; nor from a faulty style, for there is, in this respect, the utmost purity and perspicuity, the Writer expressing himself with that concise elegance which is the most felicitous vehicle in which philosophy can possibly convey her thoughts. But this obscurity may be felt, even where each separate argument is valid; 1st., if too much is attempted in a small space, and not sufficient room is given for the development of the author's design: 2nd., when arguments of very various strength are injudiciously thrown together, or arguments which are intended for one class of readers, are mixed up with others which only apply to another. As Dr. Whately very properly observes, arguments which are intended to remove, or at least to diminish, many scriptural difficulties, may have much force with the candid mind—a mind already predisposed to believe, but yet shall have no force whatever with an infidel. The more closely, therefore, a writer aims at presenting one class of arguments for a given purpose, the more definite will be his object, and the greater unity of purpose will there appear about his work. This is the inimitable charm of Butler's Analogy. His book was intended for a certain class of readers, and he eschews every argument which does not immediately tell. He might have pressed into his cause a thousand questionable arguments, and some scarcely questionable,—but he would have weakened the general impression by so doing. He would have diluted his reasoning. But his is no mixture of iron and clay. This defect, perhaps, strikes one more forcibly in our present Author, as his title, as well as certain passages in his preface, would naturally lead the reader to suppose that his design was much more limited than it appears to be; in fact, much the same as that of Butler. But more of this presently.

6

The great cause of obscurity, however, is that we first mentioned; namely, that too much is attempted in the space. This little work, in fact, traverses the whole length and breadth, not only of the deistical, but of the Socinian controversies: the whole scheme of revelation consistent with itself and with human reareason'-a most magnificent project, it is true, but surely not to be achieved in a 12mo volume of 369 not very closely printed

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pages. It may be said, that it is an elementary work, and therefore could not be spread out to the extent which would have been required to do the subject justice. We grant it; and therefore contend that our Author should have limited himself to such a train of arguments-in fact, such a section of the subject-as would have been compatible with the limits assigned to him. As this is an elementary work, it was the more necessary; for, supposing there had been more evident unity of purpose about the volume than most readers will perceive, yet, elementary works should not consist simply, or even chiefly, of the results of extensive and profound reasoning; of great general conclusions, or even of the general reasoning on which these conclusions rest. But let us not be misunderstood. We like these comprehensive abstracts, these 'outline maps', as Dr. Shuttleworth calls them, for those who have already made no mean progress in the branch of science to which they refer. But works of an elementary character and intended for a popular series, must be of a different character, Some considerable detail, and a consequent contraction of the field, are necessary. Dr. Shuttleworth brings forward, it is true, at the conclusion of his volume, an ingenious illustration by which he defends an opposite course.

In this respect the design of the comprehensive survey of the theory of Christianity here attempted, will bear some resemblance to that of the blank outline maps which we place in the hands of young students in geography, by the aid of which the grouping and relative connexion of the several districts are rendered more easy of apprehension, than would be the case, were they to commence by entangling themselves in minute questions of detail. p. 357.

Surely a moment's consideration must satisfy any one of the marked difference between the two cases, and therefore the fallacy of the illustration. For it is evident, that what confounds the memory in closely crowded maps is, that there is a great multiplicity of details to be remembered, with no other aids for that purpose than the most arbitrary associations; each place being, to one ignorant of the country, no more worthy of remembrance than another. But that which enables us to see the force of comprehensive principles, and their mutual bearings and relations, are those very trains of detailed reasoning by which we first arrived at them, or trace their connection with one another. The mind is, in this case, assisted by that detail which would only perplex in the other, simply because the very perception of the conclusions, depends upon a knowledge of the train of arguments which lead to it. There is an edition of Paley's and of Locke's works, now in course of publication, which professes to give the cream of their writings, by presenting an abridgement of their reasoning, or rather the mere results of it. The consequence is, that many