The Biblical and Patristic Doctrin! of Salvation. By J. T.
Goodsir. 2 vols. (Maclachlan: Edinburgh ; Simpkin and Marshall.)—Mr. Goodelr belongs to a past age. He is of the times when men were concerned with schemes of salvation, and whole tomes were written on every article of the scheme. Theologians forgot the existence of human beings, or at least did not consider it at all necessary to observe their habits, but came down upon them with complete a priori theories, which the unfortunate victims were compelled to swallow whole, and got as much good from spiritually as their bodies did from the medicines of the same period. Now, however, things are changed; the inductive philosophy has extended its influence to religions investigation, and writers like Mr. Goodsir only linger in Scotland. With all the earnestness and naivete' that character
ize the doctors of the closet, he at first tried to persuade the authorities of the Scotch Church to revise their definitions of faith and salvation, and to postpone the administration of baptism. Finding them unwilling to reopen these questions, he resigned his preferment, and now seeks to effect in the case of the general public what he failed in when dealing with the Scotehmen. We cannot think that he will be more successful in his present venture than when knocking at the doors of all the Scotch Church Courts in succession, and that the world at large will not be tempted, even by the offer of a "complete scheme," to wade through t hese,two laborious volumes.
Previous page
