to any but those who are capable, from their knowledge, of weighing such questions fully, as others might easily be misled. He would take the liberty of recommending Mr. Palmer's Origines Liturgicæ, as containing a more valuable dissertation on the ancient Liturgies, and a sounder view of our own. Indeed, if he is not mistaken, much in the second volume of that admirable work was intended to remove the very impressions which would be created by Dr. Brett's Dissertation. On the other hand, the collection of these Liturgies prefixed to the Dissertation is very convenient and useful, and would have been well worth publishing alone, as an appendix to Mr. Palmer's book.

Hulsean Lectures for 1837. Rationalism and Revelation; or, the Testimony of Moral Philosophy, the System of Nature, and the Constitution of Man, to the Truth of the Doctrines of Scripture. In Eight Discourses, preached before the University of Cambridge in the year 1837. With a Memoir of the Founder of the Lecture, the Rev. John Hulse. By the Rev. Richard Parkinson. London: Rivingtons. 1838.

THE memoir here given of Mr. Hulse, the eminent benefactor to the University of Cambridge, will be found to contain many interesting particulars stated to the author by Dr. Wood, the venerable master of St. John's College, who had formerly intended to write such a memoir himself. The title page of the volume sufficiently explains the nature of the subjects treated upon. It is impossible to give any analysis of them, as they are to be regarded rather as suggestions of the manner in which the turn that scepticism appears to take in modern days may be met, than as full treatises on the subjects proposed. They are written in a good style, and it is hoped they may be found useful. Infidelity being usually the same thing in most ages, only varying in its outward form and aspect, it is always well to take a careful view of the position which it occupies at present, and seems likely to occupy for some time to come.

Advent: a Mystery. By Arthur Cleveland Cox. New York. Small 8vo. pp. 132. 1837.

THIS is a poem written by an American at the early age of nineteen. It is a sort of pastoral dramatic poem, relating, as the title imports, to the time of our Saviour's birth. It may be considered as resembling, (though with less of plot,) in the class of poetry to which it is intended to belong, the Comus of Milton, though the subject is of a different character. The author has shewn considerable poetical powers, and gives good promise for the days to come, which it is to be hoped will be realized.

The Christian Naturalist. By the Rev. Edward Budge, B.A. London : Simpkin, Marshall, and Co. pp. 215. 1838.

"NOTHING more is attempted," observes the author of this pleasing little volume, "than to unroll a few of the broader and more brilliant

Enough has now been said about Mr. Powell and his publication. The reviewer was, at one time, doubtful whether he should notice so contemptible a production at all; but, upon reflection, he thought it desirable that churchmen should be reminded of the way in which their principles are sometimes assailed and misstated by dissenters.

Hoary Head and the Valleys below: by Jacob Abbott. London: Hamilton, Adams, and Co. pp. 239. 1838.

THIS work, like Mr. Abbott's other productions, is very cleverly written. It consists of a series of stories which are well told, and occasionally display power. The theological notions for which they are the vehicle are of that class of heterodoxy which is now so popular among dissenters. The following remarks are supposed to have been addressed to a man who had "been his Maker's declared and open enemy all his life." They refer to the doctrine of justification :

"It is the very essence and plan of the gospel to meet just such a case as yours. The Son of God was sacrificed for the very purpose of expiating just such sins as you have been committing. You need not be sacrificed, the sacrifice has been made already. That was the very object, exactly, of the sufferings and death of the Son of God, to make complete atonement for such sins as yours. . . . You do, if you come, and take Christ for your Saviour, bring your past existence to a close,-so far as all moral responsibility is concerned; and you begin a new life. The moment you become really his you have for ever after nothing to do with your former life. It is fully expiated by his atonement. You are justified. . . So that you see the whole plan of salvation through Jesus Christ is exactly adapted to your case; and your case is exactly the one to be most immediately and perfectly reached by it." -pp. 219, 220.

...

In a word, a long life of rebellion against God is "exactly” a case to be "most immediately and perfectly" "reached" by the atonement. Is it possible that the persons who cherish such a delusion as this can condemn the Anglican doctrine of the sacraments on account of its "deadening" and "flesh-pleasing" tendencies?

Tracts of the Anglican Fathers. Part 1. CRANMER, No. 5, "Of Sacraments, and chiefly concerning Baptism;" by Bp. Jewel. No. 6, "Of Sacraments, and chiefly concerning the Holy Eucharist;" by Dean Nowell. London: Painter. 1838.

THE design of this new series of important tracts seems to be to elicit the meaning of our church's formularies by a reference to the contemporary publications of those great divines who were engaged in remodelling our service-book at the Reformation, and subsequently revising it in the reigns of Elizabeth and her successors. The first part seems to refer to the first revision under CRANMER and others, at the beginning of the Reformation. The first and second numbers of the second part are intended to illustrate the Elizabethan æra of our church. Each tract is reprinted verbatim et literatim (the orthography is of course modernized) from first or very early and scarce editions; and copious notes are appended, designed either to illustrate passages in the text or to exhibit the sentiments of other great theologians, the contemporaries of the author of the tract. This publica

tion is so cheap as to be within the reach of every class of purchasers, and the reviewer heartily recommends it.

The Imagery of Foreign Travel; or Descriptive Extracts from Scenes and Impressions in Egypt, India, &c. London: Longman and Co. 8vo. pp. 376.

1838.

66

THE Compiler of this work is already known as a very pleasing and accomplished writer. These extracts are selected from Travels and recollections, published many years ago," and which were "received with great kindness by the public, and obtained for a time a very general circulation."-(Author's preface.) Perhaps some of the best passages in the book are those which refer to Egypt and Italy. These are too long to be quoted; but the following may serve as a fair specimen of the author's style and religious feeling.

"Allahabad at certain seasons presents a scene from which I turn with the deepest and saddest indignation. Multitudes of pilgrims crowd hither to worship at the sacred confluence of these holy streams: and every season some victims, either madly offering themselves, or devoted by the cruel piety of their friends, meet an early and untimely death.

"On the small point of land at which the rivers join their waters, sit numbers of Brahmins, known by their distinguishing flags, who receive the sums each pilgrim must pay for performing his ablutions, seal them, sell amulets, certificates, and Ganges' water to be conveyed many hundred miles distant by the purchasers.

"Does this picture rouse your indignation, reader? Learn, then, that one half of the receipts arising from the dues paid at this and all other places of superstitious resort throughout India, enters the coffers of the honourable company. A Sepoy sentinel near the spot boasted of the privilege he enjoyed; as, being in our service, he was exempted from the usual fine; paying a smaller sum for permission to dip his body in the sanctifying stream of this blessed place.

"To prop superstition, and countenance fraud, is surely a policy at once timid and impious; to benefit by the credulity of the poor plundered idolater, is a financial arrangement very little to our honour as Englishmen, and is a base denial of our faith, as Christians."-pp. 73, 74.

The Rule of Faith. Appendix to a Sermon, &c. By the Rev. W. E. Manning. Ir is not too much to say that Mr. M. has produced a work which, with candid minds, will set at rest for ever the question as to what the primitive fathers and the English Reformers regarded as "the rule of faith," in determining the sense of scripture, namely, " scripture and antiquity, or scripture and the creed, attested by universal tradition." Mr. M. commences by enumerating all the objections which have been urged against this rule, without further refuting them than by proving, 1st, That the rule of faith, as stated above, is the recognised principle of the reformed church of England; and 2nd, That it was also the universal rule of the primitive church. The first of these positions is established by reference to the writings of Cranmer, Ridley, Overall, Morton, Field, Hall, Jackson, Ussher, Bramhall, Cosin, Hammond, Bull, Stillingfleet, Patrick, Potter, and Chillingworth. The latter witness, as Mr. Manning states, is rendered worthy of especial notice, from the strange misconception which has prevailed as to his opinions upon this point. His forcible saying, "the bible, VOL. XV.-Jan. 1839.

K

and nothing but the bible, is the religion of protestants," advanced as it was by him against the errors, and additions made to scripture by Romanist tradition, has been used as a weapon against primitive tradition; and this great champion of protestantism has been represented as contending against the reception of that very rule which he takes as his groundwork in attacking the traditions of the Romish church. It may suffice to produce one extract here-"If there be any traditive interpretation of scripture, produce it, and prove it to be so, and we embrace it. But the tradition of all ages, is one thing; and the authority of the present church, much more of the Roman church, which is but a part and corrupt part of the universal church, is another. And therefore, though we be ready to receive both scripture and the sense of scripture upon the authority of original tradition, yet we receive neither one nor the other upon the authority of your church." Mr. M. has done essential service to the cause of truth by the convincing proofs he has brought forward of the misrepresentations to which this writer's opinions have long been subjected.

The third chapter of the appendix is devoted to the proof of the scripture and the creed, attested by universal tradition, having been the rule of faith in the primitive church. This proof divides itself into the following points:-1. That the oral teaching of the apostles was the sole rule of faith before the scriptures were written. 2. That it is recognised as such in holy scripture itself. 3. That it was the chief rule of faith to the universal church, until the books of scripture were collected. 4. That it is recognised by the early Christian writers as a rule of faith distinct in itself from the apostolical scriptures, although in absolute agreement with them. 5. That the oral preaching of the apostles, and not the scripture, was the original source of the creed. Upon each of these points the most satisfactory proofs are adduced from scripture, the reason of the case, and the early fathers. In the fourth chapter, Mr. M. contrasts this rule, acknowledged by the primitive and Anglican church, with the Romanist rule, which refers for the sense of scripture to a living infallible interpreter, and with the ultra-protestant rule, which says, scripture needs no interpreter beyond that which each man possesses who prays that he may read aright. He shews the close agreement of these two fallacious rules, in opposing the true one, and in undermining the authority of scripture itself; and that, in fact, such has been the result of their adoption. He points out that the groundwork of their opposition to primitive tradition is the same,-namely, because it alike gives no countenance, but, on the contrary, condemns the superstitions and errors of the Romanist, and the doctrines of the Calvinist. The fifth chapter shews how primitive tradition fixes the sense of scripture; and in the sixth, Mr. M. points out the moral advantages which would result if men would but agree to receive the sense of scripture upon the same authority upon which they rely in the reception of the scripture itself. The Reviewer commends this appendix, and the sermon, to the attentive consideration of those of the clergy and intelligent laity who, in their zeal to uphold the reformed religion, seem to have totally forgotten the very principle upon which the reformation in this country proceeded, and with what weapons it prevailed against

Romanism. It is, as Mr. M. states, an ominous fact, that at this day the most eager defenders of the church of England cannot distinguish between the principle of the Reformation and the principle of Romanism, but identify them with a blind zeal, and so denounce both

at once.

The Life and Times of Archbishop Sharp (of St. Andrews). By Thomas Stephen, Med. Lib. King's College. London: Rickerby. 8vo. pp. 640. 1839.

THE period to which this work relates is so interesting that its history, however written, must find readers. It is here presented with additional light, and in a manner very creditable to the writer, who tells us in his preface that he had the peculiar advantage of consulting some original MSS. in the "Episcopal Chest" at Aberdeen, and shews us by his work that he had the still greater advantage of carrying with him in his research, ability, industry, and right principles.

A Key to the Difficulties, Philological and Historical, of the First Book of Schiller's Thirty Years' War, (Adapted to any Edition,) forming a Guide to German Construing, for the Use of English Students. By Adolphus Bernays, Phil. Doc., Professor of the German Language and Literature, King's College, London. London: B. Wertheim. 1838.

A WORK of this kind has long been a desideratum to the German student. Dr. Bernays has executed his task with clearness and ability, and produced a book which will be found eminently useful to all who wish to learn German.

THE principles on which it is proposed to form these societies are thus stated by the committee of the Windsor and Eton Society, which was formed on the 5th of November, 1838 :

"The church of England has long been a powerful instrument, in the hands of Providence, for the promotion of Christian knowledge in our own country, and the propagation of the gospel in foreign parts. The means which she adopts, under the divine blessing, for the furtherance of these objects are,— the establishment of schools; the distribution of the holy scriptures, the book of common prayer, and other religious publications; the building and enlargement of churches; and the employment of missionaries. The authorized organs by which the church performs these great and varied duties are:

I. The National Society for Promoting the Education of the Poor in the Principles of the Established Church, throughout England and Wales.

Established, A. D. 1811.

Incorporated by Royal Charter, A. D. 1817.