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great a salvation , and the folly of braving the judgment of Him who , after Laving acted as a Father , will judge without acceptance of persons . It is not , however , the case that the writer has any natural tendency to be doctrinal $ on the other hand , it is impossible to be more essentially practical . He is perpetually recurring to moral precepts and directions ; his Epistle is almost wholly devoted to them * This is even his most striking characteristic—that which , along" with the clearness of his instructions , distinguishes him the
most from St . Paul . In general every thing is simple and positive ; St . Peter scarcely stops to speak of the mysteries of faith ; he appears to care less about opinions than about consequences and feelings . Those which he sets forth are not even always his own $ he borrows without scruple from both James and Paul , and he seems to have much more power of speaking from the abundance of a feeling heart , than of explaining doctrines , or seeking for ideas . If , then ., he says much of redemption , it is not because his head thinks much , but because his soul is moved—because , in short , he loves Jesus Christ . Here
again we may recognize St . Peter , the apostle who has lived with Jesu 3 , and who loves in him , not onl y the Saviour , but still more the Master and the Friend . Hear how he speaks of him to his readers , Him whom you love , without having seen Mm ! He appears to be astonished at that affection which does not cling to the recollection of a venerated image : he himself has seen , and he feels that these recollections of Jesus speaking , loving , reproving , pardoning , constitute the life of his soul , and the support of his faith . If he were
to be aeprived of them , he would think that he was losing every thing ; and he congratulates , he admires , those who , without having them , can love and believe like himself . Paul would never have expressed himself thus . In another place Peter calls himself , with dignity , and as if to" establish his authority , witness of the sufferings of Christ ; and he adds , who ought also to share in the glory which shall be manifested . He thus connects his hopes , or rather ,
to speak as his heart speaks to him , his certainty of obtaining heaven , with the circumstance of having actually seen Christ insulted , dead , and raised . This is , if I mistake not , an association of ideas altogether local , a connexion of time and place with his hopes and his recollections . Doubtless he sees himself at the feet of Jesus , saying to him , JLord , thou hnowest that I ifive thee ; and his Master answering him * Follow me . "—Pp . 268—274 .
We quote the following passage , not merely for its intrinsic merit , but on account of the striking similarity of some parts of it to a passage in Dr . Channing ' s Sermon on the Evidences , beginning , Passing over these topics ( p . 36 , Bristol edition ) ; for we regard it as no mean proof of the correctness of an opinion , that it has been broached equally by two judicious writers , neither of whom appears to have seen the work of the other .
" The book survived its authors , and attained by degrees the first consideration ; and this , be it observed , in the midst of an advanced and a still advancing civilization . Whilst the works of the greatest geniuses have grown old , whilst they are regarded rather as curious than useful , or are known only to the learned , this book is in the hands of every one , from the monarch to the shepherd , from the teacher to the child . An immense multitude of honest and enlightened persons read it , not once or twice like any other book , but every day and throughout their whole life ; they affirm that they find in it on every perusal more interesting matter , new ideas and
subtimer beauties . This is not the result of fanaticism and party-spirit ; these survive not to the age of eighteen centuries . Sometimes , indeed , the world has neglected this book ; but never without repenting of it , never without returning to it sooner or later , with greater eagerness and increased advantage . This book has been furiously attacked by some , who were chagrined by its jjlory , and who undertook to put an end to it They employed by turns ridicule and reasoning , learning and wit ; they excited against it powerful and contagious passions . They pronounced their blasphemies amidst the
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690 CellMeifs Discourses on the Old and New Testament .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1829, page 690, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2577/page/18/
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