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GROUND OF FORGIVING AN INJURY. By an injury, is here intended, a blameworthy failure of a duty. The atonement is in all cases something done or suffered, either by the offender, or a third party in his behalf. If it is something done, the offended consents to receive it as an adequate reparation, and if suffered, as an adequate expression of his displeasure, for the injury. The effect of it is, where it is unconditional, or the condition is fully complied with, to take from the offended party the right either to enforce reparation or to inflict suffering.-p. 115.

Again; after some further remarks illustrating his general definition of the word atonement, Mr. D. proceeds,

In cases of transgression, atonement takes the place of punishment. If the punishment merited be substantial suffering, atonement cannot be made by the offender himself. He cannot make it by future obedience; for that he is bound to render without any reference to past transgressions, merely to satisfy the future demands of the law. He cannot make it, by enduring a less degree of suffering than the threatened penalty; for that would not be an adequate expression of the lawgiver's displeasure: nor, by enduring a greater degree; for, when he has en ured a degree of suffering equal to the penalty, the claims of the law are satisfied, and any farther infliction is unjust. In every such case, therefore, atonement if made at all, must be made by a third person.--p. 116.

All will admit that, as the dispensation of the gospel now is, the sinner cannot make atonement for himself. But Mr. D. has here laid down a universal proposition (if we understand him aright); and respecting such a proposition, some have their doubts. That God could not have so ordered it, that the reconciliation of the sinner to himself should have been brought about without the intervention of a third person, nor in any other way than that which he has actually adopted, they would hesitate to affirm. The VOL. I.-No. VI.

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vital question is, what has God actually done, what method of atonement and reconciliation has he in fact adopted. This is merely a matter of investigation in the scriptures, and as such cannot be decided by any reasoning a priori.

In regard to the adequacy of an atonement, we must again let Mr. D. speak for himself.

To render the atonement adequate, the suffering thus inflicted on the third person need not, of course, be exactly the same in kind, or equal in degree, with that which would have been inflicted on the transgressor as a punishment. The kind of suffering may be different; for, if two kinds of suffering are equal in degree, they equally answer the end in view. The degree of suffering necessary to render the atonement adequate, will depend on the comparative importance of the third person and the transgressor, in the view of the subjects at large; and may be, in different cases, greater, equal, or less than that threatened in the penalty. All that is necessary to render the atonement adequate, is this-that the suffering inflicted be seen to be as full an expression of the lawgiver's displeasure against the offence, or as decisive evidence of his determination to support his law, as would have been furnished by the actual punishment of the transgressor. When this is done, the whole design of punishment is fully answered; and, with perfect safety to the authority of the law, the transgressor may go unpunished. Such an atonement however, in order to be the third person; and in order to be just, must be voluntary on the part of valid, must be consented to by the lawgiver.-p. 117.

That such an atonement is admissible, on the part of a wise and virtuous lawgiver and judge, is certainly capable of being satisfactorily shown, to every man who has an enlightened understanding. The object of punishment, certainly its object with a wise and benevolent ruler, is not revenge but example in terrorem. Now if the example of suffering is of an adequate nature

to accomplish this end, then atonement, in the best sense of the word, is made; an adequate or sufficient atonement is made.

We cannot agree with our author, in the next paragraph, when he makes a substitute to be only a third person, suffering specifically, both as to kind and degree, the penalty which the offender had incurred. Much less can we subscribe to the declaration, that in such a case, the third person "takes the identical place of the transgressor." Either of the cases here stated, are absolutely impossible, in regard to a moral offence, and a consequent penalty of a moral nature. For how is it possible, to make a transfer of the guilty conscience of the offender to the substitute? Mr. D. himself has most fully asserted that this cannot be done, p. 49. And is it not, must it not be, forever true, that the worm which never dies" is a guilty conscience, in the world of woe? How then can any substitute ever take his "identical place," in this respect, unless absolute transfer is practicable? Indeed, such a substitution is an utter impossibility. We do not at all assent to the doctrine, that a substitute must be an identical quid pro quo, in all respects. Nay, so far are we from this, that we maintain quite the contrary. In common parlance, we call that an exact equivalent," or a "mere exchange," which is an identical quid pro quo. We employ substitute in a much wider latitude. Thus a subtitute for bread, is not bread of the same kind, and in the same quantity. A substitute for wine, is not wine of the same kind, and in the same quantity. And so we speak in regard to most other things. A substitute is any thing which another voluntarily accepts, in lieu of that which he had a right to demand. Of itself, the word denotes, and merely denotes,

a thing put in the room of something else. Now such a thing may be specifically the same; or it may be a literal equivalent, (as where a man owes gold coins and pays silver ones of the same value;) or it may be a conventional equivalent, that is, such an one as previous contract has stipulated to accept; or a concessive equivalent, that is, such an one as the person or ruler offended thinks proper to accept, in lieu of the punishment which had been merited. Now whatever this may be, in any of these cases, it is a substitute; that is, it comes in the room of something else which might have been exacted. Surely the "identical place" of the transgressor cannot possibly be taken by any substitute. Nay, Mr. D. himself, after all, coincides with what we are labouring to establish, when he says:

If the sufferings of the third person are different in kind or degree, from those which would otherwise have been third person is not strictly speaking the inflicted on the transgressor; though the substitute of the transgressor, as he does not while suffering take his precise place; yet the sufferings of the third person are a substitute for the sufferings of the transgressor. In every case of atonement, therefore, the sufferings of the third person are a substitute for the transgressor's sufferings; and where the former are specifically the same in kind and degree as the latter, the third person himself is also, in the strictest sense, the substitute of the transgressor. pp. 117, 118.

In conclusion of his explanations, Mr. D. thus sums up his view of atonement:

Adequate Atonement for a moral transgression, is therefore such a degree of suffering, inflicted on a third person, with his consent, as shall be an adequate expression of the lawgiver's displeasubstitute for his punishment, or the ground sure against the transgressor, and thus a of his forgiveness. p. 118.

Having thus prepared the way to state his own views of the doctrine of atonement, Mr. D. proceeds,

It [the doctrine of atonement] supposes that the sins of men were so laid on Christ, that his sufferings were inconceivably intense and overwhelming; and that, being inflicted by God on a person of supreme exaltation and dignity, the object of God's supreme affection, "God manifest in the flesh," they were as full and as adequate a manifestation to the universe, of God's displeasure against the sins of the whole human race, as would have been made in their everlasting punishment. As such, it supposes them to be an offered substitute for the everlasting punishment of all mankind, and the actual substitute for the everlasting punishment of all who shall be saved; so that if all mankind had been saved, no more suffering on the part of Christ would have been necessary; although none will be actually saved in consequence of it, except those who repent and believe.

The scriptural doctrine of Atonement, as we understand it, is therefore this-That the sufferings and death of Christ were inflicted by God, and voluntarily endured by himself, as an adequate manifestation of the Divine displeasure against the sins of the human race, on the condition that they should

be offered to all men, as a sufficient ground for their forgiveness, or a substitute for their punishment; and that they should actually prove the substitute for the punishment of all, who repent and believe. pp. 119, 120.

Mr. D. then proceeds, in the close of his discourses, to compare his doctrine with the various facts and declarations of Scripture, which he had considered in the first and second part of his discourses, and finds them not only accordant with it, but rendered very plain and intelligible by it. The pneumatology, under Numbers 3 and 10 of this comparison, shews the strong tendency of the writer's mind to dwell on subjects of this nature, on which

we have already had occasion to remark. They might well be omitted; indeed, they should by all means be omitted. The recurrence of them with such frequency, diminishes the effect of sober argument. They are an appeal to the imagination and feelings of the reader, rather than to his understanding. We recommend to Mr. D. to compress these last eleven heads into less than half the humber, and to make them specific and definite, and to urge them with all his might.

deem the attention we have paid to We hope our readers will not these interesting discourses, too great or too particular. The subject is of such high moment, and especially at the present time, when there is so much sensibility awakened respecting it, that we could not make up our minds to dismiss it with a brief and slight review. . On all the main points, if we rightly un'derstand our author, we are altogether accordant in his views. The exceptions we have made apply only to particular paragraphs, or to minor views, in no degree affecting the fundamental principles of the discourses; and if our remarks should seem in any respect to have assumed an under minuteness of criticism, it is because nothing occurred to us as susceptible of improvement, except on points of minor importance. minor importance. We regard the work as a highly original and triumphant defence of a fundamental doctrine of the gospel. We trust the author will do himself the justice to perceive, that if we had regarded his performance otherwise than with high respect, we should never have bestowed so much pains in criticising upon it. A worthless or inferior production could have no just claim to the space and labour which we have given this.

LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL INTELLIGENCE.

A Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews is in preparation by Professor Stuart, of Andover. It will, we understand, be prefaced by an Historical and Critical Introduction, containing a refutation of the arguments of the German critics who have questioned its Pauline origin.

The Baptist Preacher.-The Rev. William Collier, of Boston, Editor of the National Philanthropist, announces his intention to engage in the publication of a work under the above title, to be conducted somewhat upon the plan of the "National Preacher," published in the city of New-York, by the Rev. Mr. Dickinson.

Liberal Preacher.-Rev. T. R. Sullivan, of Keene, N. H. proposes to edit a monthly publication of Sermons by living ministers of the Unitarian denomination, with the above title.

Malte Brun's Universal Geography. The publication of this valuable work has been commenced in Philadelphia, with additions, in a handsome form, to be afforded to subscribers at the cheap rate of $8 in boards. It is to be comprised in four royal octavo volumes of about 500 pages each, and the first contains several engraved sheets. The editor intends to add the results of the most important recent expeditions for discovery, &c. &c.

Columbian College.—In consequence of the resignation of the president,

professors and tutors, and the embarrassed state of its funds, the trustees of the Columbian college, Washington city, have declared a vacation in that institution, to continue from the 1st inst. to the 2d Wednesday of September next.

Mr. Sotheby, the translator of Virgil has brought out a magnificent polyglot edition of the Georgics, in folio; which is not only a superb specimen of typography, but affords an interesting opportunity of contrasting the powers of the several European dialects. The Georgics are printed in five languages besides the original. The German, by Voss, is the most powerful and close, being given line for line, throughout the whole. The version of the English poet yields only in this point; and surpasses most of them in giving a faithful and spirited version of the original. The Spanish is the most periphrastic-and the Italian and French most frequently fail in rendering the

true sense.

Perkins's Steam Engine.—The London Literary Gazette states, that Mr. Perkins has at length got rid of the only obstacle which presented itself against the action of his immensely powerful steam engine--that of effecting nearly a perfect vacuum under the foot of the piston, by which means the whole power or elasticity of the steam from the induction pipe is allowed to operate without resistance:

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The Nature of Sin: a Sermon, defivered in Newark, New Jersey. By Rev. John Ford, A. M. Pastor of the Church at Parsippany, N. J. Newark.

A Sermon, preached at Torringford, Conn. January 24, 1827, on occasion

of the Death of Miss Sophia Eliza Hawley, daughter of Dr. Orestes K. Hawley, of Austinburgh, Ohio. By Cyrus Yale, Pastor of the Congrega tional Church in New Hartford, Conn. Published by request. Hartford.

View of the Progress of Dogmatic History. Translated for the Christian

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The Philosophy of the Human Voice; embracing its Physiological History; together with a System of Principles by which Criticism in the Art of Elocution may be rendered intelligible, and Instruction definite and comprehensive: to which is added a Brief Analysis of Song and Recitative. By James Rush, M. D. 8vo. pp. 586. Philadelphia.

A Brief account of the Origin and Progress of the Division in the Presbyterian Church in the city of Troy, N. Y. Containing, also, Strictures on the new Doctrines broached by the Rev. C. G. Finney and N. S. S. Beman, with a Summary relation of the trial of the latter before the Troy Presbytery.

Address delivered before the Peace Society of Windam County, at their Semi-annual meeting in Pomfret, Feb. 14, 1827. By Samuel Perkins, Esq.

Letters on Clerical Manners and Habits; addressed to a Student in the Theological Seminary Princeton, N. J. By Samuel Miller, D. D. Pro

fessor of Ecclesiastical History and Church Government, in the said Seminary. New-York. G. & C. Carvill.

Historical view of the Literature of the South of Europe; by J. C. L. Simonde De Sismonde; of the Academy and Society of Arts of Geneva, Honorary Member of the University of Wilna, of the Italian Academy &c. &c. Translated from the Original, with Notes, by Thomas Roscoe, Esq. In 2 vols. 8vo. New-York.

Juvenile Psalmody: prepared for the use of Sunday Schools, at the request of the Directors of the Western Sunday School Union. By Thomas Hastings, Author of a Dissertation on Musical Taste, one of the Editors of Musica Sacra, &c. Utica: Western Sunday School Union.

James Somers, the Pilgrim's Son. Designed for Youth. By a Lady of New Haven. A. H. Maltby. pp. 77,

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Passages Cited from the Old Testament by the writers of the New Testament Compared with the Original Hebrew and the Septuagint Version. Arranged by the Junior Class in the Theological Seminary, Andover, and published at their request, under the Superintendence of M. Stuart, Associate Professor of Sacred Literature. Andover. 4to. pp. 39. Flagg & Gould.

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Polemical and other Miscellanies, consisting of articles originally inserted in the London Eclectic Review. And an Apology for the Freedom of the Press; from the seventh London edition by Robert Hall, M. A. of Leices ter, Eng. Boston: James Loring, 1827. pp. 264. 12mo.

A Selection from the English Prose Works of John Milton; in two vols. 12mo. with a Preface, by Francis Jenks. Bowles and Dearborn, Boston.

Three hundred and fifty-two Religious Letters written between 1636 and 1661, by the late Samuel Ruthford, Professor of Divinity at St. Andrews to which is prefixed the Life of the Author. First American from the twelfth Glasgow edition. New York.

Wesley's Sermons. New York : J & J. Harper. Vol. I. 8vo.

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