not transmitted in those days upon the wings of the wind, with the velocity of steamers or railroads. But what we mean to allude to, is just that remarkable modification of tone which steals over the spirit of his dream towards the close of life. His temper was irritable, yet it became calmer. As to what he had once fulminated against Susannah and the other additions to Daniel, he afterwards observes, in his Second Apology to Ruffinus, " Non enim quid ipse sentirem, sed quid illi (Hebræi) contra nos dicere vellent, explicavi.' So in his Commentary upon Isaias, composed many years after his Prologus Galeatus, we hear him quoting the First Book of Machabees as Scripture, whilst Tobias, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, and Judith, in his later lucubrations, meet with far different treatment from his pen than at an earlier period. We are not insinuating, that St. Jerome really came to entertain Tridentine views upon these works; but we are ready to believe cordially that, had he flourished in the sixteenth century, he would have manifested no resistance to the verdict of the Church Univeral. As it was, the clouds of his genius presented in their maturity her brightest reflections; and it was amidst a sunset of glory that he sank to his rest, enshrined in the admiration of all saints militant here upon earth.

It can hardly be necessary to proceed much further. Ruffinus adopted the opinions of his master, St. Jerome, upon the main question, both before and after their quarrel; and throughout the subsequent hurricanes of the fifth and six centuries that fissure began more and more to appear, which ultimately separated the eastern and western divisions of christendom. Everything, therefore, was taken hold of that would aggravate, rather than heal. As the former plunged farther into schism and heresy, Constantinople and her sister patriarchates sometimes declared their preferences for the restricted canon. When Africa, moreover, was politically recovered from Arianism through the conquest of Belisarius, Byzantine influence bore strongly upon a few of the minor sees, which yet remained around the ruins of St. Cyprian's chair. Hence Junilius, (who also rejected the Apocalypse, and who bears witness to its rejection by his contemporaries in the Orient, as Sulpitius Severus and the Fourth Council of Toledo did by theirs in the Occident,) and Primasius in Africa, as well as Anastatius of Antioch, Leontius, three prelates or persons bearing

the name of Victorinus, and several more, can be raked out of the ashes of antiquity to render a feeble and disunited suffrage against the decisions of Rome. But a great outcry has been raised, because, even at Rome, St. Gregory the Great forebore to retract a work which in his younger years, when a deacon at Constantinople, he had published upon the Book of Job. In the course of it, having occasion to quote from the Machabees, and knowing the Byzantine tenderness (in other words, its unsoundness) upon the subject of the canon, he modestly intimates: "De quâ re cavenda non inordinate facimus, si ex libris licet non canonicis, sed tamen ad ædificationem Ecclesiæ editis, testimonium proferamus." (Moral Expos. in Job. lib. xix. cap. 13, al. 17.) He would have said just the same sort of thing had he cited from the Revelation, amongst those who could not receive its perfect canonicity, as it is in fact doubtful whether the Greek Church has ever formally done to this day. Amidst the cross currents of false doctrine, the whirlpools of party interests, and the falling to pieces of an empire which had once called the civilized world its own, it appears to our minds an irrefragable proof of the integrity and inspiration of the entire Scripture Canon, that no part of it should have crumbled away, either to gratify imperial oppression, or satisfy an appetite for novelty. Manuscripts, acts of councils, historical documents, of all kinds and in every age, maintain the living voice of tradition in the Church, from the time when an Augustine declared that upon no other evidence could the Gospels themselves have become binding upon his understanding or his conscience! (Contr. Fundament. cap. 5.)

In conclusion, we may be allowed to transcribe from so illustrious a luminary his own deliberate conclusions as to what in his mind constituted divinely inspired Scripture:

"The entire Canon of Scripture, in which we affirm that this investigation should be carried forward, is contained in these books; (namely,) five of Moses, that is to say, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy; one book of Joshua, the son of Nun, one of the Judges, one little book which is called that of Ruth, and seems rather appertaining to the commencement of the Kings; then in four books of the Kings, and two of the Chronicles, not precisely running in consecutive order, but as it were side-by-side with each other, and going forward together. This (part of the Canon) is the History which comprises the regular

annals of events in a connected series. There are others not so connected, which follow a different arrangement, such as Job, Tobias, Esther, Judith, two books of the Machabees, and two of Ezra, which appear more to constitute an historical sequel to the series of the Kings and Chronicles. Then come the Prophets, in which are the Psalms of David, and three books of Solomon, the Proverbs, the Song of Songs, and Ecclesiastes. As to the two books, one of which is entitled Wisdom, and the other Ecclesiasticus, they are said to be Solomon's only from a certain analogy or resemblance of style; but in fact Jesus the son of Sirach is most generally reported to have written them: yet, as they have been received into the Canon, they must be classed amongst the prophetical books. The remaining books, which more properly are styled the Prophets, are those of the twelve (minor) Prophets, which, since they have never been separated, are always reckoned in one book, and whose names are Osee, Joel, Amos, Abdias, Jonas, Micheas, Nahum, Habacuc, Sophonias, Aggaius, Zacharias, and Malachy. Then there are the four Greater Prophets, Esaias, Jeremias, Daniel, and Ezekiel. Within these forty-four books of the Old Testament, (canonical) authority is limited. But of the New Testament, it is acknowledged in the four books of the Gospel, according to Matthew, that according to Mark, that according to Luke, that according to John; in the fourteen epistles of Paul the Apostle, to the Romans, two to the Corinthians, to the Galatians, to the Ephesians, to the Philippians, two to the Thessalonians, to the Colossians, two to Timothy; to Titus, to Philemon, to the Hebrews; in the two Epistles of Peter, three of John, one of Jude, and one of James, in one book of the Acts of the Apostles, and one of the Revelation of John. In all these books, those fearing God, and meekly devoted to piety, SEEK THE WILL OF GOD!"*

*De Doctrina Christiana, lib. ii. cap. viii. Tom. iii. p. 11. Ed. Colon. 1616. The additions to Daniel are clearly included by St. Augustine, De Natur. Bon. contr. Manich. cap. 16. Exposit. in Joann. Tract. xi., xxxvi.

VII.-The Life of St. Philip Neri, Apostle of Rome, and Founder of the Congregation of the Oratory. Book 1st.-Actions of St. Philip from his birth till he went to live at Santa Maria in Vallicella. London, Dublin, and Derby, Thomas Richardson and Son, 1847.

IT

T is with exceeding satisfaction that we announce to the Catholic public the first volume of a work of such great magnitude, and so every way important, that it is not easy to calculate its consequences in the present state of religious feeling; but when we have given an outline of its design, we shall feel it almost presumption to retain the pen, for lay hands are not worthy to descant upon the actions, the maxims, the very spirit of the most glorious of the servants of God; exemplified in the most familiar and condescending, as well as the most elevated, moments of their lives. Surely it is a sign of the times, a direct manifestation of divine Providence, that such a work as the present should be now offered to us: for at any former period when the publication of catholic works was a matter of expense and difficulty, a long series like the present would have been too great a speculation, and the purchase of them quite out of the reach of the generality of readers; now, however, by means of that press to which we owe so many valuable publications and reprints, we do not despair of seeing these treasures of edification and interest accessible to all. It is remarkable that the idea of so great an undertaking should have originated with a recent convert. The Rev. Mr. Faber appears to be endowed in an extraordinary degree with the gifts of energy, prompt untiring activity, and ardent zeal; he was converted in November, 1845, not quite two years ago, and the body of converts whom he brought with him to the church sufficiently proved that by labouring to the utmost extent of the light he then had he (humanly speaking) had deserved this great accession of grace. That body of converts did not disperse to follow each their own path in the green pastures to which they had been introduced, they remained under his guidance, and following what might be called a divine instinct implanted in souls, as yet so new in Catholic training, they fell easily and naturally into a new monastic order; alike suited to their immediate wants, and to those of the age;-and which may, we trust, be widely ex

tended throughout England. If we enquire now whence had these illustrious converts this inspiration, the answer is in the work before us. This holy leader in the Church has not followed his own theories; has not originated some new system in which he was to be himself a teacher, but by studying the lives of holy men, by seeking out the original documents, the most comprehensive and intimate records of their lives, and thus embuing himself in their very spirit, he has qualified himself to follow in their footsteps; and not only so, but in these valuable lives, the fruit of his studies, he has conferred upon the catholics of this country a second inestimable gift. We duly appreciate the Lives of the Saints by Alban Butler, their method, learning, and sound religion; but they partook of those times when all Catholic matters in England were addressed to a small circle, and compressed into small space. In times from which he had scarcely emerged, men strove for their lives; as for property, their advancement in life, and all the excitement arising from unshackled competition with their fellow men,-all these they gave up, or at least deeply perilled for their faith; that faith they preserved for us; but like men in a shipwreck, while clasping their treasure more closely to their hearts, they flung away all superfluities, all adornments, helps, accessaries, that might be dispensed with; and the result was a certain dryness more easily felt than described. Although some may think that there arose a corresponding advantage in the simplicity and decision with which they addressed an auditory of whose ground-work of faith, and of whose docility in building upon that ground-work, they were assured as of their own. At the present day Catholic writers address a larger auditory, and of more mixed character; they must teach with authority those who are of the household of faith, but they may not forget all innocent arts to awaken the attention, and satisfy the doubts of those who are without; nor even, while giving with pure simplicity the ascetic truths of religion, ought they to spare any pains to avoid giving offence in matters of mere taste and good judgment. With these conditions, so far as we may judge by this first volume, the present work is likely to comply. The life of St. Philip Neri has, with the fulness and lively interest of a biography, all the edification of a work written expressly for devotion; the style is grave and