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    the system , afcd is warmed by their cold-blooded statements of the fate of the mass of mankind to exclaim—** it * a imnossible to treat of these

    monstrous positions without contradiction and blasphemy" ( p . 206 ) . We ex . tract with pleasure from the preacher ' s remarks on the fifth chapter of the Epistle to Romans , his criticism on the phrases to justify and to make

    sinners : "To justify , literally signifies , to make or render just : in common use , it means to defend or vindicate , and also to absolve from an accusation , or free from past sin by pardon . This last is its scriptural sense . It is always thus understood , when the state of Christians in this world

    is spoken of ; because the sins of new couverts are forgiven at baptism , on faith and repentance . This will enable you to understand the other phrase , to make sinners . As to justify signifies to . make just , to place in the situation of just men by pardon ; so this expression , to make sinners , is equivalent to condemn *

    to place men in the situation of sinners . As a guilty person may be treated like an innocent one , by being pardoned and received into favour ; so an innocent man maybe treated as a criminal , and condemned . The one situation is expressed in Scripture by being justified , or made righteous ; the other by being made a

    sinner . Thus Christ is said , c to be made sin , * or a sinner , * for us ; who knew no sin ;* or , in tht words of Isaiah , * he was numbered with transgressors / and put to death as < a malefactor . ' He is also said to be * made a curse for us •/ but as he never sinned , so neither was he ever cursed by God . The word is explaiaed in the next clause : * for it is

    written , Cursed is everyone that hangeth upon a tree . *—The first phrase means only , that he was condemned , though innocent ; and the ^ eccnd , that he was crucified . To justify , then , signifies to pardon ; and to make smnersy signifies to

    condemn * In like manner , to make righteous , is to justify or pardon ; and righteousness and justification are often synonymous . In Hebrew , the simple word means , to be a sinner ; in another form of the verb , to make on < e a sinner : and it

    so translated throughout the Old Testament ; thus : — < whom the judges shall condemn , ' literally , make a sinner . ' H I j ustify myself , my own mouth will contemn me ; or , make me a sinner . « Wilt

    thou condemn him that is most just ?' "terally , make him a sinner . Thus too , ini the passage before us ; « by the offence of , many were made sinners ; ' that ls by the transgression of Adam , many

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    were condemned to be subject to death *" —Pri ; 194 , 195 . The two Sermons , XI . and XII ., " On Atonement , " have our almost unqualified approbation . We know not where the argument against the

    popular doctrine and for the " free grace" of God is so well stated in such a small compass . With little alteration , they would form a most valuable tract ( and we trust we shall not alarm any of our readers in the sister country by saying this ) for our Unitarian Book Societies .

    What will the Archbishop of Dublin ( if , indeed , he condescends to take notice of Irish heresy ) say to Dr . Brace's opening' position , * ' that the mode of Christ ' s death was an

    important part of his ministry , but from his own words we may conclude , that it might have been dispensed with by his Father , without defeating the end of his coining into the world ? " ( P . 212 . )

    After laying before his hearers the usuul exposition given by liberal divines of the terms and phrases which are farced into the proof of the popular doctrine , our preacher proceeds to point out some important moral distinctions that are overlooked by the advocates of a literal atonement by blood :

    ** Jt 5 s necessary to point out those ( these ) diversities of signification , to guard you against being misled by popular misinterpretations ; for on some of the senses , in which these words are taken , have been chiefly erected the doctrines of imputed

    righteousness and vicarious punishment . As divines have plunged mankind into such an abyss of degradation and misery , by the imputation of Adam ' s guilt , it was but reasonable and equitable , that they should make them sharers in the merits of Christ : and as mercy is

    entirely banished from their scheme , and they deny to the Almighty the privilege of free grace , or a gratuitous forgiveness of sins , they were also obliged to lay the guilt of our sins upon our blessed Lord , that he might atone for ( them . But guilt

    and punishment , transgression and reward , are always personal . No man can partake in the guilt of another , except he be also a sharer in his crime ; no man can be punished or rewarded for the merit or demerit of another . A father

    may staffer by the extravagance and depravity of his son , and a son by the misconduct of his father ; but cannot be punished for it . Subjects may suffer by

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    Review *—Bruce * s Sermons on the Study of tfve Bible . 299

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1825, page 299, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2536/page/43/