sides, gone beyond the bounds of moderation, and involved themselves and their readers in unnecessary perplexities, so as often to produce doubt rather than enlightened conviction. On this subject he expressed himself to the following effect in his volume on infant baptism :

:

"For throwing by the word of God, and subordinating it to philosophical dictates, more than for anything, will the wrath of God come upon the universities, and students therein, if they persist in so doing.

"Might I advise them, I would wish them to study the word of God more, and learn to give the obedience of faith to it, and subject 'all their studies and conversations thereto, and captivate all their philosophy and metaphysical notions to the obedience thereof, and not measure and snip it by them; so shall they find the sufficiency of the Scriptures, and the blessing of God, and bring more souls to heaven than now they are like to do; yea, such as now they hinder from entering, by rejecting the word of the Lord, and exalting their philosophical axioms above His revelations: so should they also avoid those heavy judgments threatened, Isaiah xxix. 9-14; Jer. viii. 5-9, 13; 1 Cor. i. 18-20; iii. 17-20.

"And were I à secretis with Master Goodwin, I would desire him to let go his metaphysical weapons, and keep him closer to the smooth stones of the brooks,-the sure testimonies of God's word: so would these Goliaths fall before him, and he would have less trouble with them. They might haply do with him, as Master Owen with me, who,—and I am well pleased with it,-either, like that great Goliath, looks upon me, and my small furniture, as too little and despicable for his greatness, or else hath got some stone in his forehead,-some con viction from some of the Scripture arguments and answers produced, and is willing to say nothing. But I have done, desiring pardon for this digression." (P. 157.)

This caution, which was harmless in itself,-kindly intended, proposed in this inoffensive manner, and applied to the combatants on both sides in the controversy,-roused the martial spirit of Dr. George Kendall; whom Baxter characterizes as "a little quick-spirited man, of great ostentation, and a considerable orator and scholar; ""bold, self-conceited, superciliously scornful," possessed of "a Cretan pen :" that is, a pen addicted to lying. (Titus i. 12.) These are severe words, but not more severe than true. Kendall was an ultra-Calvin. ist, who without equivocation or reserve avowed his belief of the doctrine of absolute reprobation, which he applied to children who die in their infancy, as well as to adult people. His language on this subject is more horrible and revolting than that of any other author that we have ever read. Speaking of infants, some of whom he assumed to be non-elect, he says, "Though they die before capable of doing any work in one kind or other on earth, yet even they shall acknowledge Him in hell, and bow their little guilty knees, 'confessing

that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father;' confessing that there was no Mediator that could intercede for them besides Him alone."* Had this daring theologue, who had now taken his degree as a Doctor in Divinity, never read that Jesus took little children in His arms, put His hands upon them, blessed them, and declared that "of such is the kingdom of God ?" How could "such" then by Him be condemned to suffer the torments of hell? Had he who could make such a statement the heart of a man?

Kendall's manner of writing was in full accordance with his creed. When discussing subjects of the most solemn interest, he would descend to any quirk, or jocular sarcasm, to make his opponent appear contemptible. Accordingly, he entitled his attack upon Horne, "A Fescue for a Horn-Book." The "horn-book," which was formerly used in English schools, consisted of a single page of letter-press, pasted upon a piece of board, and covered with transparent horn, so as to prevent the busy fingers of the child from obliterating the print. The "fescue" was a piece of steel wire, which was used in pointing out the letters in the act of teaching children the alphabet. By this title the author evidently intended to stigmatize Horne's volume as being as insignificant as a child's first book, adapted only to the feeblest intellect, and the errors and defects of which he intended to point out by his "fescue ;" which, after all, was one of the most disingenuous productions that ever emanated the pen from of the veriest partisan. Because Horne had expressed an opinion that theologians in general, including members of the Universities, should rest in the plain and obvious meaning of God's word, and not attempt to explain the counsels and purposes of God by the uncertain dictates of metaphysical philosophy, Kendall held him up as an ignorant coxcomb, who set himself to oppose University learning in general; so as not only to make no account of languages and logic, but of philosophy itself when applied to legitimate objects. Whereas Horne had no such meaning, nor were the terms which he had used capable of any such construction. But this was one of the arts that Kendall was accustomed to use as a controversialist: and in this case he attempted to amuse his readers by puns upon the name of the man whom he thus assailed.

Horne, however, nothing daunted, defended himself with admirable temper, in a very able quarto tract, entitled, "Christ exalted in the Sufficiency of His Scripture Doctrine and Spirit to furnish Gospel Preachers against the Incroachment of Philosophy upon Him; or, Dr. Kendall's Fescue confuted. 1658." In this publication Horne acknowledges the usefulness of philosophy, when kept in its proper place, and the great importance of all the other branches of a Uni

* Kendall's "Vindication of the Doctrine commonly received in the Reformed Churches," chap. viii., sec. 25.

versity education, and shows that he had never said the things which Kendall had imputed to Him. The province of philosophy, he contends, is to deal with created nature in its various forms, and not to modify the glorious Gospel of the blessed God, or to pry into the hidden counsels of the Almighty; and he clearly convicts Dr. Kendall, by the application of his metaphysics, of contradicting the teaching of Christ and His apostles. It was not from the Holy Scriptures, but from some other source, that this bold advocate of philosophical divinity derived his information, that there are infants "in hell, who bow their little guilty knees" in acknowledgment of Christ's dominion.

In this very able tractate Kendall's puns upon Horne's name are repelled, and turned to a good account. Kendall says, "I met with a digression of one Mr. Horne's, which, though extreme shrewd, yet is sufficiently short; and therefore, as desperately as it pusheth, it is so very far from goring, that it scarce pricketh." To this Horne replies, "Truly, I am not ashamed of my name, though this witty gentleman makes himself and his readers now and then merry with it. For though I am indeed but a sorry horn, and of little worth; yet blessed be the Lord, that hath raised up a Horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David;' which I have opportunity of minding so oft as I am named; and I think it an honour to my name, that my Lord and Helper hath owned it, and put it amongst His own titles: through which Horn even I, as sorry as I am, shall push down my enemies and His too. What I am to any purpose I am in and by Him; and if He, the true Joshua and High-Priest of the camp of Israel, please to breathe in me, however despicable, I shall make a sound able to shake the walls of your buildings. But of myself I can do nothing, nor am, as Dr. Kendall saith, so much as a 'thorn.' Whether what I said in my digression 'gored' or ' pricked' him, I know not; but methinks he flings about as if something had pierced him to the quick."

Horne was far from thinking that predestinarians were the only men who had pushed their inquiries too far into the counsels and purposes of God, and beyond what is warranted by the Holy Scriptures. He thought that several of the Arminians had offended in the same manner; and that the metaphysical speculations contained in the early chapters of John Goodwin's "Redemption Redeemed" were worthless as to all purposes of real good. As to the extent of God's mercy and of Christ's redemption, and the other points of doctrine connected with it, he thought that the simple testimony of Holy Scripture should be received and rested in with an implicit faith. Christians, he thought, are complete in the teaching of Christ, as well as in His righteousness, and in the sacrifice of His death, and the power of His grace. Others might, if they chose, stray beyond the inspired record, and affect the character of philosophic divines: he

aimed at no higher character than that of a Christian disciple, receiv ing the word at the lips of his Lord, expounding it to others, and exemplifying it in his life. His reply to Kendall is an admirable defence of the supremacy of Scripture, equally adapted to the present times as to the times in which the author lived.

His next publication that has come under our notice refers directly to the subjects which had of late occupied his earnest attention,-the extent of redemption, and the manner in which its benefits are applied. It is a quarto tractate of forty-one closely printed pages, and bears the date of 1659. The circumstances which led to its publication are curious and interesting. An aged gentleman, the initial of whose surname was D, having lived many years in Lynn, been on terms of intimacy with Horne, and entertained his theological opinions, took up his residence in a neighbouring town, the Minister of which was a strict Calvinist. The aged man, who was a devout Christian, at length died in the Lord; and the Minister with whom he had recently become acquainted published a sermon on the occasion of his decease, professing to give a detailed account of conversations he had with him. By means of this sermon the old gentleman, who was well known to have been Arminian in his views, was made to express himself as a decided Calvinist; and the circulation of the sermon in Lynn and the neighbourhood could be viewed in no other light than as a challenge to Horne; who thought that the sermon dealt unfairly both with the living and the dead. He suspected that the conversations were given in a garbled form, and rather expressed the sentiments of the Minister who published them, than of the aged Christian in whose name they were put forth. To this sinister publication Horne supplied an effectual antidote in a quarto pamphlet, to which he gave the title of "Essays about General and Special Grace; occasioned by, and by way of Animadversion upon, some Lines of a late Picture of a good old Gentleman, drawn first in the Pulpit, and then in the Press, by W. K., Rector of E., in N. 1659."

This tract is written in a fine spirit, and everywhere shows the hand of a master in biblical interpretation, in logic, and in Christian theology. It contains a discussion of several nice and delicate questions, among which are the preventing grace of God,-the grace which precedes conversion, and prepares men for a penitent and believing reception of Christ as their Saviour; the Scripture doctrine of election; the causes of the difference between two men, equally circumstanced, one of whom believes the Gospel, and is saved, while the other perishes in unbelief and sin; the ordination of men to eternal life; and the true design of St. Paul in the ninth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans. Horne displays no angry feeling because of the unfair attack which was made upon him by a neigh bouring clergyman, but defends his tenets with perfect good humour;

and his assailant must have been intensely mortified when he found that his sermon, and the alleged conversations which it embodied, had called forth so crushing an answer.

(To be concluded.)

RISE OF ANTINOMIANISM.

By Antinomianism we mean the heresy which is commonly distinguished by this name. Lawlessness, the living in disobedience, living as if there were no God, or as if God had never given mankind a law to live by, is not peculiar to any class of persons, neither does it originate in any particular mood of mind or specialty of doctrine. A single sentence of Holy Scripture declares the reason of disobedience: "The carnal mind is not subject to the law of God.”

Even in the apostolic age certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ." (Jude 4.) Traces of the licentiousness of such men appear incidentally in the New Testament, and in the earliest histories; but an open denial of the first principles of religion marks them as atheists or heathens rather than as heretics. Soon, however, ungodly persons presumed to quote Scripture in justification of their impiety, but the common conscience of Christendom revolted from such a desecration of God's holy word. They were scarcely regarded as Christians, and it would be difficult to point out more than one notorious instance of the kind among the records of the first four centuries.

Such a one was Aëtius, an Arian. This person was the son of a Syrian soldier. He was left fatherless in early childhood, and probably was purchased as a slave. His first calling was that of a tinker, or, as some would say, "travelling goldsmith." His habits, when a young man, were very dissolute. Making his way by dint of ingenuity and impudence, he assumed the title of physician, and then the profession of sophist. Having disputed with persons of his own class who got the better of him in argument, he had to flee from Antioch to avoid disgrace, and made his way to Alexandria. Shortly before his arrival at that city, Athanasius had been sent into exile by the Emperor Constantius; and the notorious Bishop George, then intruded on that see, patronised Aëtius, whom he either made deacon, or had found him so ordained by another bishop of the sect. Being thus invested with character, this adventurer betook himself to the study of what, perhaps, he mistook for Christian theology, having been up to that time possessed of extremely scanty information; but instead of learning his new religion from the Bible, he took instruction from some obscure sophist of the city. His conduct at the same time became so

a new

VOL. XI.-FIFTH SERIES.

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