other expedient of reafon, which is fo much magnified by the modern Unbeliever, I mean, Repentance. The Scriptures, indeed, have made repentance an indifpenfable condition of pardon. And it must be owned, the ftate and difpofition of a penitent mind, is in itself adapted to excite mercy, and to render a man in fome degree capable of forgivenefs. It fhews a juft fenfe of the dignity of the perfon offended, a true notion of the heinoufnefs of the crime committed, a proper confciousness and conviction of the duty and neceffity of future obedience. But how repentance alone fhould be able to wipe off the ftains and pollutions of guilt; how this fhould compenfate for past offences, and fhould reinftate a man in that fame degree of favour and acceptance which had been forfeited by his tranfgreffions, is not eafy to comprehend:

Mere forrow for what is paft, however great and unfeigned, which is one of the conflituent parts of true repentance, is no fufficient reparation of the injuries done to God or man, by an open violation of their laws. The majefty of the Legislator, and the honour of his laws, give juftice a kind of claim upon the Offender, and this claim is not to be fatisfied without the infliction of condign punishment. The conduct of the civil Magiftrate in fimilar circumftances, is a proper illuftration of this matter. Upon any notorious breach of focial duty, the fword of the civil power is unfheathed, and held in readiness to execute vengeance. And no prefent remorse of conscience, no bitterness of forrow in the malefactor, is thought a proper atonement for the iniquity of his paft behaviour, or a fufficient caufe to ftay the hand of Juftice. This proceeding is found to be the only fecurity of human laws and human government. And the fame kind of procedure appears to be a neceffary vindication and fupport of the divine Legiflature; civil juftice being only one branch of that great stream of natural juftice, by which the divine government is fuftained, and the order and well-being of the univerfe is preferved.

Nor does the other effential part of true repentance, a firm refolution of amendment for the future, carry with it any circumftances of a more prevailing and efficacious nature, towards the blotting out of man's tranfgreflions. The relation which the creature bears to his Creator, exacts from the hands of man an univerfal obedience to the laws of God. Obedience then for the future is as much a duty incumbent upon us, as obedience in times paft; and of confequence, the intention and promife of obedience in the former cafe, cannot have fo much merit, as to make amends for the want of it in the latter; unless it can thought, that the performance of duty in one inftance, is licient to answer for the violation or neglect of it in another;

thall

than which nothing can be imagined more contrary to our dif tinct ideas of duty and juftice. The making a refolution of amendment for the future, is nothing else but determining to pay a due obedience to the laws of God for the time to come. And furely the refolving to do what was a man's indispensable ́ duty, previous to any fuch refolution, is a circumftance of no real worth, nor can acquire any juft title to the approbation and favour of God.

The defign of punishment is not merely the amendment of the party offending, or an example of terror to others: fome regard ought to be paid, a great regard is always paid to the authority of the laws and the Enactor of them. Now every breach of duty is a direct infult upon the Majefty of Heaven. It implies difrefpectful notions of the perfon of God, and a downright contempt of the Divine government. The behaviour therefore of finful man does a real injury to the honour of the Deity, which his inflexible juftice is bound to vindicate. This is that guilt which the mind contracts by every wilful devia-: tion from the paths of virtue, and becomes itself a proper object of Divine Vengeance. What then will a refolution of amendment for the future avail in this cafe? Can it repair the injured honour of the Moft High? Can it make fatisfaction to his offended Majefty? Can it remove that guilt which is the infeparable attendant on loft innocence?

There is plainly no affurance of pardon to the finner from any thing which reafon is able to fuggeft. Hope indeed he may; but his very hopes are built upon no reasonable foundation. His only refort must be to that inexhauftible fund, the mercy of God. But we fhould do well to confider, that there is a perfect harmony and confiftency between all the attributes of the Divine Nature. There can be no room for mercy, where juftice calls for vengeance. And the offences of man against his God are of fuch a nature, as make the interpofition of Divine juftice neceffary, to vindicate his honour and his laws. Nothing but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation can await the finful fons of men; unless fome method be difcovered, by which an adequate fatisfaction may be made for the atrociousnefs of their crimes.

Here then appears the great expediency of Revelation, to fupply the defects of natural light. What had been hidden for ages, and lay involved in impenetrable darkness; what was in vain to be fought for in the acuteft fpeculations of the moft confummate Philofopher; what even exceeds our largest and most fanguine hopes; that, the great ftorehouse of all faving knowlege, the Scriptures, have expofed to the view, and laid open

to the apprehenfion of all mankind. "Chrift our paffover is. facrificed for us," I Cor. v. 7. by whom we obtain the remiffion of our fins. "All we like theep have gone aftray: we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all." Ifaiah liii. 6.'

The Doctor, in the remaining part of this Discourse, shews himfelf an Advocate for the notion of vicarious fatisfaction, and tells us, that the paffages of Scripture which favour this opinion, are fo numerous, fo clear, and confiftent, that no small study and labour is requifite to mifinterpret their native and obvious meaning. He should have confidered, however, that what appears obvious to him, may not appear obvious to others; and that many perfons of diftinguished learning and abilities, and whose fincerity in their enquiries after truth, cannot be called in queftion, have given a very different interpretation to thofe paffages of Scripture which are urged in fupport of his opinion, and which are thought to be so clear and decifive.What an amiable thing is Candor!

The Hiftory of Kamtfchatka, and the Kurilki Islands, with the Countries adjacent, illuftrated with Maps and Cuts. Publifhed at Petersburg, in the Ruffian Language, by order of her Imperial Majefty, and tranflated into English by James Grieve, M. D. 4to. 16s, fewed. Jefferys.

THE

HIS account of a country fo remote, fo different, from our own, in every respect, never approached by our mariners, and unknown even to the court of Ruffia, till they made a conquest of it in the beginning of this century, cannot fail of affording entertainment, to a Reader who has a tafte for geography, and is curious to know the nature of different climates, and the manners of the various favage nations, difperfed over the vast uncultivated tracts of the earth.

By our Author's account of the climate, it feems formidable even to a Ruffian; what would it be then to an Englishman ! For though it lies in the fame latitude with Scotland and the north part of England, the ground is covered with fnow near eight months of the year; and very little of it is fit for corn or pafturage. Intense cold, frequent ftorms, vulcanos, earthquakes, moraffes, bears, wolves, infects, render it seemingly uninhabitable by mankind. Yet the eternal and univerfal Wifdom, delighting in uniformity and variety, hath attempered human

ure, which is every where the fame, to fuch various modes.

of

of living, that there are native inhabitants of this country, who not only find means of fupport, but, according to our Author, think themfelves the happiest people in the world; though what he fays of their dying fometimes by famine, and of felf-murder being commonly practifed among them, does not cohere well with what goes before, unless we are to limit thofe events to the time fince they felt the tyranny of the Ruffian Coffacks. Indeed we could point out feveral apparent inconfiftences, which were owing, perhaps, to the Tranflator's inadvertency, or his not perfectly understanding, or his purpose of abridging, the Ruffian original.

The flesh, fkins, and bones of rain-deer, which are kept in numerous herds, fupply the inhabitants of the northern parts of the country, with food, cloathing, and feveral utenfils; befide the ufe of thofe animals in drawing their fledges when they travel. In the fouthern parts where the fnow lies fo deep, that rain-deer cannot live because they cannot come at the mofs, which is their food, the natives live chiefly upon fish and sea-animals, the fat of which animals is in high esteem, and prepared by excellent cookery, is the principal dish at their entertainments. It must be fuppofed, that the fat of a feal, or a whale, cooked in their manner, is as delicious to the ftomach of a Kamtfchatdale, as that of a turtle is to the ftomach of an, Englishman. Nay, it feems, by our Author's account, that thefe people enjoy the pleasure of good-eating in a far fuperior, degree to what our Epicures can boaft! And to fay nothing of the gentleman-like freedom of their other pleasures, they can make a fhift to get drunk, without ale, wine, or brandy, by the, juice of a certain mushroom, which throws them into a frenzy. either of joy or horror, according to the conflitution of the man who drinks it. In fhort, thefe people live in that pure ftate of nature, uncorrupted by law or religion, to which fome refined modern philofophers would have us all return. They who have read accounts of the manner in which the Indians of North America, and the inhabitants of Greenland live, may obferve a rem rkable fimilitude in many refpects. The Americans and the Kamtfchatdales, fays our Author, agree in the following things: First, Their features are alike. 2dly, The Americans prepare the fweet herb in the fame manner as the Kamtschatdales do, which has never been obferved any where elfe. 3dly, They both ufe wood in ftriking fire. 4thly, It has been obferved in many inftances, that their hatchets are made of ftone or bone. 5thly, Their wearing apparel and hats are the fame. 6thly, They dye the fkins of beafts with alder, as the Kamtíchatdales do: from whence it appears probable that they are of the fame race. Thefe particulars may help to

anfwer

anfwer the queftion, Whence was America peopled? For though we should grant, that America and Afia were never joined, yet thefe two parts of the globe lye so near each other, that the impoffibility of the inhabitants of Afia going over to America (efpecially as the number of iflands lying between made the paffage more eafy) cannot be maintained.

In short, our Author's defcriptions both of the human and brute animals, in that remote part of the world, (if they should not all be rather ftyled brute) are very curious and entertaining, and may lead a philofophic mind to admire the economy of nature, in the production and fupport of life in those states and forms that appear to our imagination most savage and monftrous.

An Anfwer to Dr. Mayhew's Obfervations on the Charter and Conduct of the Society for the Prepagation of the Gospel in foreign Parts. 8vo. 15. Rivington.

A

Ccording to the wifh we expreffed in our Review of Dr. Mayhew's performance, here fteps forth an able and spirited champion for the Society, who vigorously repels the Doctor's bold attack, difputing every inch of ground, and giving him ftroke for ftroke. In many inftances, our zealous Epifcopalian feems evidently to have the advantage of the over-zealous Prefbyterian, who appears, in thofe inftances, to have over-fhot his mark. But at the fame time he seems to think, when he comes to the main point, and which ought to have been the only point in debate, viz. Whether the fociety have not exceeded the bounds of their charter, by applying fo much money, or indeed any at all, to the fupport of congregations in the Maflachusetts and Connecticut, where the people had the means of the Chriftian religion without fuch affistance, though not after the manner and form of the Church of old England. He does not deny, that the Society has laid out too Erge a proportion of the money in thofe provinces, but pleads that they have a difcretionary power within the bounds of their charter. This may be admitted, yet the queftion remains, whether they have not proceeded without or beyond the bounds of their charter? And whether any applications, which our Author alleges in their excufe, could be fufficient to juftify fuch extra-proceedings? Allowing that a good end has been antwered by it, and that it was natural, reafonable, and pious in the Society, to promote Chriftian worship in America, acording to the plan of our eflablished church, yet if there is