22 Extract from Alexander's Sermon on the Universal Progress of the Gospel. witch and destroy their enemies, carry pestilence into their flocks, and blight their fruits. "More than twenty murders, damages, and acts of vengeance," were proved against one poor wretch who suffered under our commission. Evidence was also given of the deaths of many children who had been the victims of witchcraft: the blood of soine had been sucked; others had been hanged; others had been scourged with brambles to death; and many had been destroyed by the poisonous pills. After many details of this character, the inquisitors break off and say, "The number of these murders is so great, that it is impossible to go into the particulars of all." In the course of their inquiries, the inquisitors obtained information of an Aquelarre of more than five hundred' witches; but it seems they were unsuccessful in their attempt to convict them. What precedes is a very imperfect and abbreviated account of the discoverics and proceedings of the Logrono inquisitors. Many disgusting details are omitted, but enough are given to show the gross barbarism and credulity of a tribunal which professed to justify the character of God, and to purify religion from all its errors. The establishment of the inquisition in Spain seems to have been the prelude to the gradual decline of that "renowned, romantic land." The most enlightened writers, (and especially Hernando de Pulgar) opposed the introduction of this merciless tribunal with energy and eloquence. More than twenty thousand persons were marked out for its prey, immediately after its establishment; of whom two thousand were burnt, and about the same number, condemned to death, fled to the mountains, and escaped, as they were able, from their country. In 1492, the barbarous decree was issued, which drove nearly half a million of Jews from the Peninsula, who took with them immense treasures, and whose removal almost crushed the rising spirit of literature in Spain, for among them were some of the ablest philosophers and most intelligent critics.* And their talents descended to their children. Spinoza, Monteira (whose shrewd objections against Christianity were In 1559, the inquisitor general pub lished the first list of prohibited books." Among these the New Testament is mentioned; the prohibition of which was repeated in 1583. Such is the growth of superstition, when ministered to by ignorance and sheltered by power, that soon after this period a noted Jesuit (Martin del Rio) wrote to prove (aye, and quotes authorities too) that Luther was the carnal son of the devil, who in the form of a goat seduced his mother-and that all heretics are magicians, calmly recommending that they may be brought to the torture, which he supposes would make them confess the fact. It would be an useful, it might even be an interesting object, to trace the influence of ecclesiastical tyranny on the literature, the civil rights, the happiness of a nation, which has gradually sunk from the summit of political influence, and power and pride, into a state of moral, mental, and political degradation. SIR, B. Bath, Dec. 6, 1816. BEG leave to transmit to you an extract from a sermon preached at Lurgan, in Ireland, before a body of Dissenting ministers, by Andrew Alexander, of Urney. The subject was the universal progress of the gospel-the text Isaiah xi. 9. After the author had illustrated the doctrine, he then proceeds to consider the causes which prevent its immediate accomplishment; and, first he considers the prejudices of education. He says, it is very natural to think, that whatever opinions get first hold of the mind, will take the deepest root; they grow up with its growth, and strengthen with its strength. They are generally received from parents or masters, whom young persons are inclinable to treat with great deference and respect; and it' may be they are patronized by great names, for some particular accomplishments highly reputable. These circumstances are all apt to conspire in rendering the bulk of mankind extremely tenacious of such sentiments, and very unwilling to admit answered by our Anthony Collins), Castro, Pinedo, and other famous Hebraists, were descendants of the Portugueze and Spanish expatriated Jews. any thing that opposes or condemns them. By this means they are converted into prejudices, those pernicious weeds of the mind, that choak every fair plant of reason and truth; and as religious prejudices are of all others the most inveterate and incurable, men are disposed to regard religious matters as in themselves so sacred, that, whenever attempts are made to remove any mistake that bears this hallowed stamp, they instantly take the alarm, as if their dearest and most valuable interests were in danger of being torn from them. They cannot patiently hear any of their religious tenets treated as erroneous, much less calmly attend to or consider maturely and impartially what may be advanced against them. This was remarkably the case when Christianity was at first published, though attended with the most striking proofs of a Divine Power interposing in its favour. By the strength of prepossession, it became to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishne Nay, where the gospel has been long received and professed, there have been and still may be prejudices early imbibed, very unfavourable to that improvement in the knowledge of God and religion, which we have reason to hope for, from the improvement of the capacities of human nature, from the advancing state of society, and from the spirit of wisdom speaking in the mouths of all the prophets. It is generally allowed that the power of prejudice is very conspicuous in the professed members of the Roman church, and that it has been in all ages the grand obstruction to a more thorough and perfect reformation. But, if we examine how matters stand among the reformed, it will be found that each of the parties into which they are unhappily divided, hath (in) its own prepossessions, more or less unfriendly to that growth in grace, and in the knowledge of their common Lord, to promote which is the great design of the gospel. As no sect of Protestants will have the confidence to pretend, that all its partisans are either infallible or impeccable, Israelites indeed in whom there is no guile, it is surely incumbent on all carefully to examine the system of their religious belief, that they may discover whatever it contains that may disqualify them for higher im provements; to guard against every bias, that may give them advice for or pleasure in one side of the question more than another, and to keep the mind like a just balance, ever ready to be weighed down by the appearance of truth, and to allow the clearest and strongest evidence from time to time to preponderate, as any addition may be made to either side. In proportion as this temper prevails, we shall be ready to hear and to receive instruction, to examine, alter, or lay aside our opinions, and allow due force to every thing that can be proposed; and thus shall we, as the happy consequence of enjoying the gospel, be filled with wisdom and spiritual understanding, become fruitful in every work, and daily increase in the knowledge of God, and of our Lord Jesus Christ. The author goes on, 2dly, to shew, the obstruction to the increase of religious knowledge, arising from impurity of heart and life, the prevalence of those sinful lusts that war against the soul; 3dly, to the growth of religious knowledge, from the inju dicious and unfair representations that have been frequently made of religion and especially of Christianity; and, lastly, the exercise of that power claimed by Christians of almost every class, of prescribing in the most sacred matters to all within the reach of their influence, and of reducing them to an uniformity of sentiments with their respective leaders, whether civil or ecclesiastical. I have not room to introduce either of these articles, though they are well worthy of our notice. for ours only, but also, for those, oλ8 т8 xоoμ8, of the whole world." 1 John ii. 2. That is, the benefits arising from the life and death of Christ, to those who are duly disposed and qualified to receive them (however we may differ as to their mode of operation in the gospel scheme), are not confined to those places where he is preached, but extend to all the generations of Adam, past, present, and to come. Richard Baxter, in his treatise on "Universal Redemption," hath employed fifty seven propositions, and sixty explanatory theses, in illustration of this glorious and important truth, which St. John hath clearly and emphatically expressed in 'three sentences! It hath been said of this eminent divine, that he was. "unhappily subtle and metaphysical in every thing." The term subtle, in a bad sense, is ill applied to Mr. Baxter, but he is certainly liable sometimes to the charge of metaphysical obscurity, which, as must ever be the case, renders his works far less useful than otherwise they would be. But, not to digress, it is to be observed, that although the text above cited, with many others, fully establish this important principle, and thereby decisively prove the acceptableness of natural religion, where no other is to be obtained; yet, it by no means follows that our best endeavours should not be exerted, to promote the knowledge and influence of Christianity, where it is at present unknown. On the contrary, possessing as we do, in the enjoyment of this Divine gift, immense privileges and advantages, we should be solicitous, as far as we are able, to communicate these blessings to the comparatively benighted corners of the habitable globe, and to labour as well as pray, in the use of reasonable, probable, and allowed means, (as to the nature and application of which we must be supposed to differ), "That the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, may shine into them." With this view, much expense and labour have recently been employed in this country, by different denominations, in the institution of Missionary Societies, for the propagation of the gospel in foreign parts, into the degrees of the success failure of which we do not now inquire. We may conceive, however, of various methods which ministers of different religious sentiments might naturally be led to adopt in the prosecution of this important object. or Let us suppose a zealous Calvinist, engaged in this arduous undertaking. He will probably begin his work with the history of the fall; the supposed consequent inherent depravity of human nature; the utter incapacity of man, in his natural state, to do a good action, or even to think a good thought. He would then proceed to the doctrines of irresistible grace; a triune Deity; the necessity of infinite merit to atone for infinite guilt, which he imputes to a frail, finite and fallible creature, because committed against an infinite Being; and the assertion, that if they die without the Christian faith, even when it has been but briefly proposed to them, and they have had little time to examine its evidences, they will be infallibly condemned to all eternity. If they should express astonishment at some of these positions, as "things hard to be understood!" and are dreadfully alarmed at the idea of infinite and everlasting vengeance, he will presently soothe their fears, by informing them, that though their case is at present desperate, it is so far from being hopeless, or without remedy, that it may be changed for the better in an instant; that they have only to accept of Christ, by a strong and lively faith, and the work is done: That he hath wrought out a free and full salvation for all his elect, of which number, each individual to whom he is preached, may hope to be one, seeing we cannot search the book of God's decrees; and who can never finally fall from his grace, for whom he loves, "he loves to the end:" That it is true, this faith should operate to the mending their manners, and reforming their wicked lives, and that this it will infallibly accomplish; but that at the same time, they must always be exceedingly careful not to pay any undue regard to the good works which they may perform, which, being imperfect, can neither be the cause, matter, nor condition of our justification, and which, in any wise confided in, will ultimately deprive them of all the privileges and blessings of gospel grace. He will guard them against Satanic influence, the author of which, he will describe as a kind of demi-god, possessed of a species of omnipresence, having access to the minds of men in all times, places and circumstances, and tempting them to kinds and degrees of sin, far beyond the extent and discovery of their own natural powers and corruptions. The writer believes, that he does not misrepresent a species of preaching, to be met. with in, no inconsiderable degree, in some religious communities: if he doth, he will be very ready, upon conviction, to acknowledge his error. Nor would he by any means insinuate that pious and sensible ministers of this class preach nothing else but. these principles: he only means to intimate that they frequently constitute a leading part of their public discourses. Now, let us suppose, on the other hand, a Bishop Taylor or a Wilkins, a Clarke or a Tillotson, a Whichcote or a Foster, a Price or a Paley, engaged in the same design. He would probably, like the great founder of Christianity, begin with deducing his instructions from the things around him, and lead his hearers from nature, up to nature's God: he would display the wonders of creation, and the different effects which they produce, upon the mind of the attentive, and of the superficial observer: he would expatiate on the nature and perfections of the Deity, as far as discoverable by us; his unity, and supremacy, his infinite power, presence, wisdom, and goodness; and when they had arrived at some tolerable acquaintance with, and conviction of those important and fundamental principles, he would proceed to demonstrate the justice and holiness of God, the essential and unalterable distinction between moral good and evil, the obligation of gratitude to the Supreme Being for all his benefits, the necessity and advantage of constant and humble prayer in all created natures, and more especially in so frail, fallible, and dependent a being as man, not only as an essential means of religion, but as an integral and constituent part of it, and of conformity to the image of the great * "Pontoppidan, Bishop of Bergen, introduced into his sermons complete tracts of natural history, considering them as excellent articles of theology." St. Pierre. Dr. Young speaks of those, who- Least correspondence with a single star: heaven, Walking in brightness or her train adored!" VOL. XII. E and glorious Being whom we wor ship, in all his imitable excellencies and perfections: he would proceed to demonstrate the evident traces of a moral government, begun, but not consummated in the system around us, and the consequent inferences which wise men in all ages have hence deduced in favour of the belief in a future state of rewards and punishments; the natural equality of mankind, as creatures of the same God, endowed with powers and faculties alike in kind, though different in degree, and apparently designed for the same glorious end, and at the same time the necessary subordination of ranks in society, arising from the very constitution of human nature, our different talents, capacities and inclinations, and the prodigious variety of labours and occupations requi- . site in the circumstances in which we are placed; the sacredness of property, the necessity and advantage of civil order, and just government; our social and relative duties, as parents and children, masters and servants, subjects and rulers, neighbours, relatives, and friends; the evils and mischiefs arising from polygamy, adultery, and promiscuous concubinage; the harmony of families where two only are joined in wedlock; the benefits thence arising to the children and servants; and the probability of an original law in this behalf, from the great Creator, who manifests simplicity and harmony in all his designs and operations: he would dwell on the beauty and necessity of public as well as of personal and family worship; how admirably adapted it is to serve the cause of religion and morality; how it "wipes off the rust of the week," and attaches man to man in more close and intimate bonds: then he would lay before them a moral chart of the world we inhabit, and, perhaps, sometimes in private, a natural one; would describe the different situations, climates, advantages and disadvantages of the globe; he would acquaint them with the outlines of astronomy, thereby to afford them just views of the grandeur and immensity of the universe; he would lead them from world to world, and from system to system, from this small speck of earth, to worlds and suns above, he He would now proceed to consider the different religions in the world, and to shew that all nations have some religion he would demonstrate that the Deity has various me thods of communicating his mind and will to his rational offspring, always and every where by the objects of nature, the course of Providence, and the powers of reason and conscience, sometimes by the instrumentality of superior beings, called angels, who have appeared occasionally in a glorious, and at other times in a human form; but that, as our present faculties are weak and imperfect, and we can scarcely bear the effulgence of angelic, and still less of Divine glory, he hath been graciously pleased for the most part to speak to us by the medium of sages, patriarchs, and prophets, men in all respects like ourselves, except in those extraordiwith nary and supernatural powers which they were occasionally endowed, and by means of which they were enabled to point out with authority the path of duty to an ignorant and benighted race, who, by neglect ing the natural notices of God, and his Providence, and of their duty and expectations, had departed from their allegiance, and rendered themselves obnoxious to his displeasure: he will shew the evils of paganism, as a corruption of the true primitive religion, the absurdity of bowing down to stocks and stones, as to visible gods, which our hands have formed; for, how can those things help us, which, though we cannot create, we can alter or destroy? and even the folly of worshipping the host of heaven, which, though essentially serviceable to man by their benign influences, appear to be as much under a law, as the elements of fire and water which are more immediately under our cognizance he will then gradually unfold the history " He will represent the former and the latter prophets, and especially the great prophet of Nazareth and his apostles, as proving their Divine commission, by the performance of incon testible miracles-a species of evidence of which they will readily perceive the force and importance, when they. are convinced that all things are equally subject to the Divine jurisdiotion; that the same power which created, can easily change or destroy; and that none can work a true miracle but God, or those commissioned by him: that therefore a miracle is an occasional departure from the common course of nature, by a Divine interposition, in attestation of the authority of a particular person, or for the accomplishment of some important moral purpose, immediate or remote: that, if they were to see: four thousand persons fed in a |