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speculations who are determined to stand about this question , what God is ? Rather let us enquire what is agreeable to his nature , and what our relation to kkn *" The words in italics present a ¦ staiHJlng difficulty to a less ingenious reasoner than the Frenchman ! Let us not , he would say , $ e& how far it is from Paris to Rome ; rather let us inquire how far it is from Rome to Paris . Moreover , he pretends to a very intimate acquaintance with the mtifives and rule of action of this
iiiikriowable nature . ** Objection . God moveth the will , but it is afterwards in our choice either to obey or to resist the motion . " A * Yea , he moveth it so effectually , that it needs must follow "
Subsequently we are informed that God " foreseeth evil , he hath suffered it , and he would [ waled ] it . " * * " Objection . Exhortation will be made in vain , * * unless it be in the power of the sinner to obey . "A . Not so truly , for though Christ affirm that we can do nothing without Mm , £ hence the doctrine is forced of election ad
damnandum , 2 doth he therefore the less reprove those who do evil without him ( 1 ) * * * p . 74 . u Q ; Why are the faithful put in mind of their duty , seeing they are- directed by the Spirit of God ?* * *
** A . O man , who art thou that prescribest God a Law ? If he will have us to be prepared by exhortations to receive grace , what canst thou backbite in that dispensation . —p . 30 . # Objection . What excellent gifts soever are seen in the unbelievers , they are the gifts of God ; &s in Titus and Trajan , justice ,
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moderation , equity ; i& Vespasian , continency . ' "A . Nevertheless , that is true which Augustine writeth , that all those which are strangers frost God , howsoever they be accounted won * derful for the opinion of virtue , which men have of them , are not only worthy of no reward , but rather of punishment ; because they pollute the pure gifts of God with the Jilthiness of their hearts" Let the last words be dispassionately examined , and let it be remembered
that they were written by one who deprecated all freedom of will or choice , truly so called . Can impiety and envy be more disgustingly united ? Our specimens are taken at random , merely because they admit of
quotation ; they are fair specimens of the whole . In short , the writing is bad , the morals worse , and the religion worst . We wish the little book a large sale ; and may it open the eyes of many mistaken men to the hideousness and
absurdity of the nightmare they have taken for the true religion . If anything could seem diabolical , it is such a nature as delights in denying and blaspheming the ineffable goodness of the Creation ; we can only forgive it out of the charity proper to the very faith the writer so zealously labours to traduce .
The Two Brothers . A Narrative exhibiting the Effects of Education . R . Groombrj , dg §; J . Sutherland ; Robertson and Co . 8 vo . p . 99 . The " effect of education" is only
exhibited , in a comparison between a youth whose naturally belligerent propensities are cultivated to the utmost , and another whose pacific dispositions are directed pulpitwards . The moral of the work is an exaltation of the church at the
