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Article REVIEW OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. ← Page 5 of 6 →
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Review Of New Publications.
To counteract the bad tendency of this performance is a laudable design , and From what we can see the tract under our consideration is __ well suited to the purpose . The author writes with feeling as a Christian minister , and particularly as a teacher of youth . From Mr . Gibbon's Memoirs Mr . Evans accounts for his scepticism , in the following ways i . The want of a religious education , z . The connexion
of Mr . Law , the mystic divine , with the family of Mr . Gibbon . 3 . The little regard paid to his instruction at Oxford . 4 . The mode adopted to reclaim him from the errors of Popery , into which be had inconsiderably V . \ ps . ed . 5 . The desire of literary fame which prevailed in his breast . On ali these points our author makes very ingenious and spirited reflexions , chiefly with an eye to young persons , and several useful cautions are suggested , for the purpose of checking the progress of scepticism .
By way of opposing Mr . Gibbon ' s celebrity as a writer , a brief account of the late LordLyttleton is subjoined , to shew , that as elegant scholars as the Roman Historian have been firm believers in the truth of the Christian religion . The following remarks , with which we shall conclude our notice of this article , are pertinent and forcible .
' Suppose that Mr . Gibbon , upon finishing his elaborate History of the De ^ cltiie and Fall of the Roman Empire , had , like Lord Lyttlcton , sat down to the great question , respecting the truth of Christianity , it is more than probable , that his enquiries would have . terminated in conviction ; because he , of all modern unbelievers , is allowed to have best understood that striking branch of the argument for Christianity , which arises from its promulgation . la consequence of this favourable issue , he would either have expunged or
corrected certain passages in the two obnoxious chapters which have given such just umbrage to the friends of revelation .. Thus would he have exhibited to the world a . greatness of mind , which could not fail of rendering his character more estimable in the eyes of the sensible and virtuous part of mankind , and of placing his fame upon a more secure and durable basis . Whereas , now , these chapters , replete with insinuations against our religion , remain an awful monument of the weakness of the human understanding , since it will appear
that even the talents and erudition of a GIBBON did not preserve him from prostituting his powers in the wretched cause of infidelity . ' Christians , however , who profess to believe in the divme origin of theii religion , sliotild not indulge any serious apprehensions on account of the at . tacks to which it lias been subjected . Nor need they be greatly alarmed at
the unusual progress which infidelity is now making in the earth . The gloom of scepticism which is daily gathering , and settling over the nations of Europe , will be dissipated by the return of pure and unadulterated Christianity . The Divine arm , which , in the primitive ages , was stretched forth for its promulgation , will , in these latter times , ensure it a still more illustrious triumph . It must , nevertheless , be recollected , that agreeable to the suggestion of Sir Isaac Newton , an almost universal prevalence of infidelity ,
in the dispensations of Providence , is expected to precede the ultimate diffusion of truth and righteousness . Unbelievers may deem the miracles of Christ to be the tricks of a magician , and the prophecies of Scripture to be the effusions of a distempered imagination . From the intrinsic excellence of our religion , borne down and buried beneath a heap of rubbish , the eye of the rational enquirer may be averted . The followers of Christ may be loaded with calumny , and stigmatised with being the disciles of fanaticism and
sup perstition . But this inverted state of things continues only for a limited period . The same infinite wisdom that predicted this temporary degradation of reli gion , has also assured us of its subsequent triumph and glory . By its celestial radiance , tbe truth , as it is in Jesjis , shall break through every cloud by which Jts splendour has been eclipsed , and in which it has been involved , either b y
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Review Of New Publications.
To counteract the bad tendency of this performance is a laudable design , and From what we can see the tract under our consideration is __ well suited to the purpose . The author writes with feeling as a Christian minister , and particularly as a teacher of youth . From Mr . Gibbon's Memoirs Mr . Evans accounts for his scepticism , in the following ways i . The want of a religious education , z . The connexion
of Mr . Law , the mystic divine , with the family of Mr . Gibbon . 3 . The little regard paid to his instruction at Oxford . 4 . The mode adopted to reclaim him from the errors of Popery , into which be had inconsiderably V . \ ps . ed . 5 . The desire of literary fame which prevailed in his breast . On ali these points our author makes very ingenious and spirited reflexions , chiefly with an eye to young persons , and several useful cautions are suggested , for the purpose of checking the progress of scepticism .
By way of opposing Mr . Gibbon ' s celebrity as a writer , a brief account of the late LordLyttleton is subjoined , to shew , that as elegant scholars as the Roman Historian have been firm believers in the truth of the Christian religion . The following remarks , with which we shall conclude our notice of this article , are pertinent and forcible .
' Suppose that Mr . Gibbon , upon finishing his elaborate History of the De ^ cltiie and Fall of the Roman Empire , had , like Lord Lyttlcton , sat down to the great question , respecting the truth of Christianity , it is more than probable , that his enquiries would have . terminated in conviction ; because he , of all modern unbelievers , is allowed to have best understood that striking branch of the argument for Christianity , which arises from its promulgation . la consequence of this favourable issue , he would either have expunged or
corrected certain passages in the two obnoxious chapters which have given such just umbrage to the friends of revelation .. Thus would he have exhibited to the world a . greatness of mind , which could not fail of rendering his character more estimable in the eyes of the sensible and virtuous part of mankind , and of placing his fame upon a more secure and durable basis . Whereas , now , these chapters , replete with insinuations against our religion , remain an awful monument of the weakness of the human understanding , since it will appear
that even the talents and erudition of a GIBBON did not preserve him from prostituting his powers in the wretched cause of infidelity . ' Christians , however , who profess to believe in the divme origin of theii religion , sliotild not indulge any serious apprehensions on account of the at . tacks to which it lias been subjected . Nor need they be greatly alarmed at
the unusual progress which infidelity is now making in the earth . The gloom of scepticism which is daily gathering , and settling over the nations of Europe , will be dissipated by the return of pure and unadulterated Christianity . The Divine arm , which , in the primitive ages , was stretched forth for its promulgation , will , in these latter times , ensure it a still more illustrious triumph . It must , nevertheless , be recollected , that agreeable to the suggestion of Sir Isaac Newton , an almost universal prevalence of infidelity ,
in the dispensations of Providence , is expected to precede the ultimate diffusion of truth and righteousness . Unbelievers may deem the miracles of Christ to be the tricks of a magician , and the prophecies of Scripture to be the effusions of a distempered imagination . From the intrinsic excellence of our religion , borne down and buried beneath a heap of rubbish , the eye of the rational enquirer may be averted . The followers of Christ may be loaded with calumny , and stigmatised with being the disciles of fanaticism and
sup perstition . But this inverted state of things continues only for a limited period . The same infinite wisdom that predicted this temporary degradation of reli gion , has also assured us of its subsequent triumph and glory . By its celestial radiance , tbe truth , as it is in Jesjis , shall break through every cloud by which Jts splendour has been eclipsed , and in which it has been involved , either b y