the boldness and petulance of fanatics, who intrude themselves into the offices of teachers in Chriftian affemblies without proper learning, or any due qualifications, the author undertakes to fhow, that the Apostles themfelves were not unprepar ed as to human knowledge, nor received, probably, fuch an infpiration as could fuperfede all previous fitnefs in the perfons for that office. This argument is conducted by Mr. Jeffe with. great ability and judgment; of which a fpecimen will evidently appear in the following paffage :

"It will be faid, and it hath been faid, by thofe who wish to fhelter their ignorance and prefumption under cover of example, that the Apostles were fishermen. It should however be remarked, that the learning and exercife of arts and trades were not inconfiftent with a literary education, in the fame degree as with us at this time. The Jews, whatever was their rank or fortune, generally inftructed their children in fome bufinefs or employment, by which they might fupport themselves: it was a proverb with them, He that will not teach bis fon fome art or trade, brings him up for the gallows. St. Paul was, by occupation, a tent-maker; yet, he had the beft learned education which his country could afford: he was brought up at the feet of Gamaliel, the most renowned doctor of the age. Therefore it is in vain to alledge that the Apoftles were fishermen, unlefs it can be proved that all fishermen, in their days, were as unlearned as fifhermen, taylors, fhoemakers, weavers, nail-makers, &c. generally are in our times.

"To this it may be replied, that, in Acts iv. 13, it is faid of Peter and John, They were unlearned and ignorant men. But the imputation implies no more than that they were not eminently learned, nor diftinguished by their rank above the generality of their countrymen : they were not fcribes: they were not doctors of the law: they were not admitted to the degree of companions of their wife men: they were not rulers of the Jews, civil or ecclefiaftical: they were in the rank Two woλwy of the many; men in a private ftation. And it was this which made the rulers, and elders, and jcribes, and Annas the highprieft, and Caiaphas, and John, and Alexander, and the kindred of the high-prieft, to wonder fo much at the fpeech of Peter and John; for it expreffed a knowledge of the facred writings, a freedom, an authority and decifion, a fkill and point in the application of the fcriptures, far above what might have been expected from men of their education and rank*. But there is nothing in all this which implies that the

"Now when they faw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceiv ed that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled :—which is thus paraphrafed by Dr. Hammond : And when they obferved the elocution and freenefs of fpeech with which they taught, and withal confidering that their education had not thus elevated them above other men, being neither fkilled in the learning of the Jews, nor as men of place or magiftracy among them inftructed in their laws, they were amazed at it.""

Apoftles·

Apoftles were abfolutely without learning, that they could neither write nor read, and had never been at fchool*. Their hiftory implies the contrary; that they had read the holy fcriptures, and were familiarly acquainted with the contents of the bible: and this particular hittory, out of which the objection is taken, will prove that Peter and John had a fufficient fhare of learning to fpeak in prefence of the moft learned men of the nation, even to their aftonishment.

The degree of ignorance which has been imputed to the Apoftles is very unworthy of their character; and a very ill ufe has been made of it. Let it be confidered, whether they were fuch unlearned and ignorant men as they have been reprefented. This fubject demands the reader's attention.

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The generality of Jews, in our viour's time, were fo well acquainted with the text of holy writ, that, if any one referred to a particular paffage, faying, it is written, they would immediately recollect the paffage and its connection, and could turn to it without hefitation, though their bibles were not divided and numbered, as ours are, in chapters and verles. Jofephus teftifies that every pious Jew was fo well acquainted with the fcriptures, that, if queftioned concerning any point in their Law, he would answer to the queftion as readily as he could tell his own name. It does not appear, by any thing we read in the New Testament, that the Apoftles were lefs intimately acquainted with the contents of the facred volume than the generality of their countrymen. There is not a fingle expreffion or intimation of any ignorance of this fort; but quite the contrary." P. 2.

The imputed ignorance of the Apoftles, is thus further explained:

"Here we fee what was the real ignorance of the Apostles, when Chrift called them to follow him. It was ignorance of the moft important meaning of the Scriptures, of the fpiritual defign of the Law: it was ignorance of the true character of the Meffiab, of his falvation and kingdom. But if Chrift had chofen his Difciples out of the fanhedrim, if he had felected his Apoftles from their most excellent doc-. tors, they would, in all thefe points, have been as ignorant as the Galilean fishermen. It was ignorance refulting from the common prejudices of the nation concerning the temporal glory of Meffiah's kingdom, and the perpetuity of the law of Mofes. There is not a fymptom in any part of the four Gofpels and Acts, of any other ignorance that difqualified the Difciples of Chrift for the apoftolical office, than what refulted from this common prejudice. It was this prejudice which rendered them fo dull of apprehenfion, when they heard the fublime doctrines of their matter." P. 8.

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Aypamalo-Non qui prorsùs indocti; fed minùs eruditi in legibus aliifve difciplinis: non inftituti in fcholâ Pharifæorum: non ver. fati in doctrinis Thalmudicis-Nam fcripturas facras Apoftoli et legerant et memoriâ tenebant. Pol, Synop."

With

With refpect to the inspiration of the Apoftles, this author contends that it is not true,

"that they fpake and wrote oraculously, and as much under the immediate influence and conftraining power of the Divine Spirit, as the Prophets of the Old Teftament uttered their prophecies, who, compelled by a divine and overruling energy, declared what fometimes they had no mind to utter, and what they themselves did not always perfectly understand."

He argues this from the facts recorded of them, taking in aid the principle,

"that we are not to fuppofe a direct or immediate interpofition of Divine Power in any cafe whatever, where there are means or fecondary causes fufficient to account for the effect." P. 18.

We do not perceive any intention in the author, or any unintentional tendency in his book, to lower the inspiration of the Apoftles too far, but merely to eftablish the due boundaries of it. His conclufion from all this is of the most valuable, and practically useful, kind.

"This review of the hiftory of the Apoftles, of their education, learning, and infpiration, will, it is hoped, convince the reader, that every one who would undertake the office of a public preacher of God's word, fhould first of all be well fatisfied that he is furnished with fufficient abilitics. To undertake to fleer the facred ark, in which hundreds and thoufands, with their eternal interefts, are embarked; to undertake this charge, without understanding the art of navigation, without a chart, or compafs, or, which is the fame thing, without understanding the ufe of either;-to undertake the cure of fouls, without any profeffional abilities;-to affume the office of teaching and expounding the word of God, without having ever once read the Bible through in all their lives; without learning enough to give the analysis of any one book in the Bible, or of one chapter; without having ever ftudied a fingle text with its context, nor even the meaning of the words and phrafes of the facred language;--to undertake the office of feeding the flock of Chrift, which he purchased with his own blood; and then let them perish for lack of knowledge through the incapacity of their paftor, his ignorance and inexperience;-to undertake the most important and moft difficult of all fervices, which has often made the best qualified to fear and tremble;-to undertake this fervice, as raw and ignorant of theological learning, as they were when creeping through the third or fourth form at fchool:-This, THIS, of all the prefumptions, of which the folly and wickedness of mankind have ever been guilty, feems to be the GREATEST !!!" P. 32.

This useful tract is dedicated to a prelate, eminently qualified to give credit to the author, and fanction to his work, the Bishop of London; but apparently without fpecific permifflon, and only as a tribute of refpect.

The larger work, mentioned at the head of this article, is of ftill higher importance. It contains, on the whole, an earnest and forcible recommendation of the ftudy of the Bible to all perfons, thowing that it may be ftudied with fuccefs and advantage, even by those who are only able to read it in the Englith tranflation. By very found arguments the author enforces the study of the whole Bible, but more efpecially by showing and proving that it is altogether a connected fyftem, and that it cannot rightly be understood by partial ftudy. Much of Biblical, and much of critical knowledge, is difplayed in this 'work; particularly (with refpect to the latter) in the third and fourth Chapters, which treat on the fubject of tranflations. Among the highly useful paffages with which this book abounds, the following able view of the caufes of Socinianifm and Antinomianifm (or what is commonly called Method:fm) will be diftinguifhed by the fagacious reader. Mr. J. derives both from a partial knowledge of the Scriptures, mingled with human opinions and prejudices.

"Thefe circumftances of things, in former times, will juftify my earnest endeavours to perfuade every one to SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES. The effects will be exactly the fame, and equally fatal, whether we be deprived of the ufe of the Scriptures by ecclefiaftical authority, or, by any means, are brought to neglect the reading, studying, and fearching thefe facred records. The Scriptures are neglected: we do not study the Bible with fufficient attention and diligence. The word of God has loft its authority. And, what is the confequence? We are funk into a miferable state of ignorance, fuperitition, and profanenefs; into a careless obfervance of the outward forms of godliness, and a fuperftitious confidence in them. We hear, and do not obey. In vain do the fincereft preachers of Chriftianity quote chapter and verfe, to prove any doctrine which militates againít the prejudices, and paffions, and evil practices of their audiences; for, not knowing the analogy of faith, and being ignorant of the order of the text, its connection, and its dependence upon what goes before, the proof is loft, and the people hear without conviction. At the fame time, and for the fame reafon, a crafty, plaufible, or noify preacher, whole whole defign is to draw away difciples after him, and who fpeaks to the prejudices and paffions of his hearers, fhall be received as an oracle; and the people will imagine he has fully proved his falfe or perverted doctrine, by the mere jingle and found of fcriptural words and phrafes: they will affent to any argument, which has only the appearance of truth, if it tend the way in which their prejudices lead them, and gratify the conceit of extraordinary wifdom. They have neither difpofition, nor patience, to search after the meaning of Scripture, and cagerly catch the found of words detached from the context, as if that found were of neceffity an echo to the fenfe of the infpired writer. This is the true ground of the prevalence of Socinianifm and Antinomianifm in the prefent day.

"Here

Here is a man, who makes high pretenfions to zeal for Chriftianity: he profefles to be a fincere lover of truth, and to be influenced by the purest motives. He talks loudly, and with much concern, of the corruptions of Chriftianity; and makes a great parade and fhew of learning and reafon, in his profefied attempt to detect error and to deliver us, as he pretends, from the prejudices and fuperftitions of the darkeft ages. In this way, he would prejudice his hearers, or readers, in favour of himself; whofe minds and hearts are already too much difpofed to favour a doctrine, which conceals the extreme evil of fin, and hides from their view the wretched condition of human nature which required fo great a facrifice as that of the Son of God.

As if he could perfectly comprehend God, he determines, by philofophical reafons, that there cannot be any kind of plurality in the mode of exiftence of the fupreme Being-e determines, that God is abfolutely, abstracted from every diftinction, and metaphyfically, One. -he determines, that our Lord Jesus Christ mutt be, and was, and is, abfolutely, in every fenfe of the word, a mere man. To justify his notions with an appearance of fcriptural authority, which is neceffary to impofe his opinions on thofe who profefs to believe the Bible, he appeals to 1 Tim. ii. 5, For there is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the man Chrift Jefus. They who have never examined this text, and know nothing of the context, or the drift of the Apoftle in this part of his Epiftle, are at once ftaggered; and they, who are already prejudiced on the fide of Socinianifm, immediately conclude that this text is a full and decifive proof of the unity of God, and of the mere humanity of Jefus Chrift, in the Socinian sense of these terms. They are deceived, partly by the confident boldness with which the appeal is made to this Scripture in proof of Unitarian opinions, and partly by the jingle and found of the words. But, if the context be examined, and no other meaning put upon the text than what the context gives, it will appear clearly that St. Paul, in this paffage, no more thought of the unity of God and of the mere humanity of Christ, in the Socinian fenfe of the terms, than he thought of the Newtonian doctrine of light and colours. Now an Omer is the tenth part of an Ephab, might have been quoted, in proof of Unitarian opinions, with as much real propriety, though not with fo much fhew of propriety, as this text in St. Paul's first Epistle to Timothy.

"Antinomian Teachers fet out with very high-founding profeffions of zeal for the exalted character of the Lord our Redeemer. They infift ftrenuously that Chrift hath fulfilled, or obeyed, the moral Law, or Law of nature, for them, or in their ftead. And, in order to magnify the importance of his mediation, they infift that by believing this opinion, which they call faith, they are perfectly holy and righteous in Chrift by imputation, that is, by the imputation of Chrift's righteoufnefs, his active and paffive obedience to the faid moral Law for them; fo that perfonal holinefs and righteoufnefs cannot be required of them, and are not neceffary to their eternal falvation. They quote thofe texts of Scripture, in which believers are faid to be delivered from the Law, to be dead to the Law, and in which the Law itself is faid to be dead. They never confider, nor do the people apprehend, the various fenfes in which the word Law is used in the Scriptures. What

St.