APHORISMS ON SPIRITUAL RELIGION.

"APHORISM I. H. More. Every one is to give a reason of his faith; but priests and ministers more punctually than any, their province being to make good every sentence of the Bible to a rational enquirer into the truth of those oracles. Enthusiasts find it an easy thing to heal the fancies of unlearned and unreflecting hearers; but when a sober man would be satisfied of the grounds from whence they speak,

shall not have one syllable or the least tittle of a pertinent answer. Only they will talk big of the spirit, and inveigh against reason with bitter reproaches, calling it carnal and fleshly, though it be indeed no soft flesh, but enduring and penetrant steel, even the sword of the Spirit, and such as pierces the heart." P. 143.

In the present work Mr. Coleridge designedly abstains from entering upon the abstruse question of the Trinity, or the profound mystery of the origin of moral evil; because, he says:

"1. These doctrines are not (strictly speaking) subjects of reflection in the proper sense of this word: and both of them demand a power and persistency of abstraction, and a previous discipline in the highest forms of human thought, which it would be unwise, if not presumptuous to expect from any who require aids to reflection' or would be likely to seek them in the present work. 2. In my intercourse with men of various ranks and ages, I have found the far larger number of serious and enquiring persons little, if at all disquieted by doubts respecting articles of faith, that are simply above their comprehension. It is only where the belief required of them jars with their moral feelings; where a doctrine in the sense in which they have been taught to receive it, appears to contradict their clear notion of right and wrong, or to be at variance with the divine attributes of goodness and justice, that these men are surprised, perplexed, and alas! not seldom offended and alienated. Such are the doctrines of arbitrary election and reprobation; the, sentence to everlasting torment by an eternal and necessitating decree; vicarious atonement and the necessity of abasement, agony, and ignominious death of a most holy and meritorious Person to appease the wrath of God. Now it is more especially for such persons, unwilling sceptics, who believing earnestly ask help for their unbelief, that this volume was compiled, and these comments written." P. 151.

The whole scheme of the Christian Faith, including all the articles common to the several Christian Churchés, is to appear before the public in a larger work now preparing by our author for the press. In the mean time, his opinions upon the doctrines to which we have alluded, may be collected from various passages in the present volume; and it is gratifying to observe that they appear equally rational and orthodox. Thus in speaking of the different modes in which we might be inclined to

handle the doctrine of the Trinity in argument with a Christian or a Deist, he says:

"The doctrine of redemption from sin supplies the former with motives and reasons for the divinity of the Redeemer, far more concerning (query convincing) and coercive subjectively, i. e. in the economy of his own soul, than are all the inducements that can influence the Deist objectively, i. e. in the interpretation of nature." P. 179.

Again ;

"The practical inquirer hath already placed his foot on the rock, if he have satisfied himself that whoever needs not a Redeemer is more than human. Remove for him the difficulties and objections that oppose or perplex his belief of a crucified Saviour, convince him of the reality of sin, which is impossible without a knowledge of its true nature and inevitable consequences; and then satisfy him as to the fact historically, and as to the truth spiritually, of a redemption therefrom by Christ; do this for him and there is little fear that he will permit either logical quirks, or metaphysical juggles to contravene the plain dictate of his common sense, that the Sinless One that redeemed mankind from sin, must have been more than man; and that he who brought life and immortality into the world, could' not in his own nature have been an inheritor of death and darkness. It is morally impossible, that a man with these convictions should suffer the objection of incomprehensibility (and that on a subject of faith) to overbalance the manifest absurdity and contradiction in the notion of a mediator between God and the human race, at the same infinite distance from God as the race for whom he mediates." P. 248.

The characteristic difference between mere Morality and practical Christianity is thus described.

“ By undeceiving, enlarging, and informing the intellect, philosophy sought to purify and to elevate the moral character .... Christianity reversed the order. By means accessible to all, by inducements operative on all, and by convictions, the grounds and materials of which all men might find in themselves, her first step was to cleanse the heart. But the benefit did not stop here. In preventing the rank vapours that steam up from the corrupt heart, Christianity restores the intellect likewise to its natural clearness. By relieving the mind from the distractions and importunities of the unruly passions, she improves the quality. of the understanding; while at the same time she presents for its contemplation objects so great and so bright as cannot but enlarge the organ by which they are contemplated. The fears, the hopes, the remembrances, the anticipations, the inward and outward experience, the belief and the faith of a Christian, form of themselves a philosophy, and a sum: of knowledge, which a life spent in the groves of academies could not have attained or collected." P. 184.

Those amongst our readers who study religion that they may be sensible of its power in their hearts, rather than as a mere science wherewith to exercise their talents, will pardon us for a further trespass on their time by the insertion of the following. passage:

"Hence, I more than fear the prevailing taste for books of natural theology, physico-theology, demonstrations of God from nature, evidences of Christianity, &c. &c. Evidences of Christianity! I am weary of the word. Make a man feel the want of it; rouse him, if you can, to the self knowledge of the need of it, and you may safely trust it to his own evidence, remembering only the express declaration of Christ himself; No man cometh to me unless the Father leadeth him. P. 397.

And thus we take our leave of Mr. Coleridge for the present,. hoping that in his forthcoming work, without losing any of his vigour and originality, he will endeavour to be somewhat more plain, intelligible, and easy of mental digestion, than he has occasionally been in his " Aids." We would also recommend a less frequent use of capital letters; the demand for them, occasioned by his substantives and emphatics, must have almost exhausted his printer's stock of type.

Christian Researches in Syria and the Holy Land in 1823 and 1824, in Furtherance of the Objects of the Church Missionary Society. By the. REV. WILLIAM JOWETT, M.A., one of the Representatives of the Society, and late Fellow of the St. John's College, Cambridge. With an Appendix, containing the Journal of Mr. Joseph Greaves, on a Visit to the Regency of Tunis. Pp. 516. London. Seeley and Son.

1825.

We shall examine this publication without any reference to particular doctrines, or to the question of the comparative merit and utility of the Missionary Societies now existing. Considering it as a work of information, capable of illustrating the page of Holy Writ, we shall exhibit the claims on the attention of the public which it may possess in this respect. Enough of religious controversy, however mildly we may treat the subject, must necessarily come before us; and we congratulate ourselves on every opportunity of avoiding it, when we can do so without betraying our important trust.

Although, at the first glance, it be evident that a considerable proportion of Mr. Jowett's work has been compiled from ecclesiastical history, it is useful in assisting us to trace the variations which the lapse of years must have occasioned in every sect of the eastern Christians. The book is divided into an account of the "religious Denominations in Syria and the Holy Land"-" the Journal itself"-" the natural, civil, and religious state of Syria and the Holy Land ;"-to which "Notices, Remarks, and Suggestions," are appended. The first department is very indifferently executed, and is destitute of many important particulars respecting those whom it professes to describe. The sections on the METAWALIES and DRUSES are mere compilations, enriched by no original remarks; and as much more might be collected from accessible MSS. respecting the latter, the omission is deserving of censure. It also appears that the author has not a clear idea of the ANSARIS, ISMAELIS, and YEZIDIENS; as from the different discoveries which have been made concerning them, little doubt exists that they are a denomination of Druses, having, amidst some points of discrepancy, strong coincidences of faith and practice.

We do not, indeed, discern any extended research in the Journal itself. Mr. Jowett, in his account of an interview with a young Abyssinian, (p. 86,) informs us, on the authority of this person, "that the Abyssinians, when they catch Mohammedans, sometimes compel them to become Christians." Until, however, we have other corroborations of this fact, we may be allowed to doubt it, as unsupported by evidence: for we are informed (p. 84) that the narrator "was eight years old when he was taken in Abyssinia, and made a slave, and carried into Egypt;" and at p. 85, that he had "quite forgotten the Abyssinian language. Now, what could he be supposed to know of the institutions of his country at so early an age? and what correspondence could he have maintained with it, when he had forgotten its language?

We find, a little further on, an explanation of Ps. cxxiv. 6.

"In the morning of this day, not an hour too soon, the master of the house had laid in a stock of earth, which was carried up and spread evenly on the roof of the house, which is flat. The whole roof is thus formed of mere earth, laid on and rolled hard and flat; not, as in Malta, of a composition which is smooth and impenetrable, and thus receives the rain-water and carries it off into the tanks under the house. There is no want of flowing water in this mountainous country, as there is in Malta. On the top of every house is a large stone-roller, for the purpose of hardening and flattening this layer of rude soil, so that the rain may not penetrate; but upon this surface, as may be supposed, grass

and weeds grow freely. It is to such grass that the Psalmist alludes as useless and bad."

This is not a new elucidation of the passage: it has been noticed by some of the oldest commentators and critics; yet it being mentioned in this place shows that the custom is retained. Mr. Jowett has not animadverted on the latter clause of the Syriac and Chaldee versions, which might be substantiated or disproved by local observations.

It is observed, with respect to the ordinary salutations, that "in Egypt the Christian salutation is Salamat; among Mohammedans, everywhere, it is Salam; but this is not allowed among Christians. In the southern half of Palestine," he "found the ordinary salutation between persons on the road to be Owafy, literally Good luck, to which the person saluted replies, 'Alla yafik,' that is, May God give you good luck!" Here, as in other parts, we remark that Mr. Jowett simply quotes the colloquial Arabic, and scarcely in any, if in one instance, writes an. Arabic sentence in a pure and classical form. He has likewise omitted many of the forms of salutation common to Syria and the Holy Land, of which a fuller specimen may be seen in Scholz's Travels; (p. 290.) from whence we perceive, that THAT which he calls Owafy is not detailed entirely.

We cannot by any means assent to our author's tirade against the Arabian Nights' Entertainments, which, perhaps, of all the books in the Arabic language, contain the best description of ancient manners, and might be employed with greatest effect in developing Scriptural allusions.

After mentioning his journeys to different places on Missionary purposes, Mr. Jowett concludes this first part of his route by a description of Beirout, which is very circumscribed. He asserts, that "the whole of Beirout would give a population of five thousand." But Scholz, who was there in 1821, and manifestly was a man of considerable learning and indefatigable research, gives a very different statement. After noticing the bazars, and the immense trade of the place, he says "it has about ten thousand inhabitants, of whom about fifty are Franks, one hundred are Jews, four thousand are Turks; almost all the rest are Maronites. Some are schismatical and catholic Greeks, and many are Druses." Both Alàziz and Abu'lfeda assert it to have been a splendid city.

From Beirout he travelled towards Jerusalem, in company with Mr. Fisk. At Nabi Yunas, he cites the tradition of Jonah having been there ejected from the whale; and in his remarks on ancient Tyre, he is more minute and particular than in those