M. Bunsen's children to hear, in all quarters, that their father is an infidel." What I wrote of was, that on which inquiry was made of me, his rationalistic views as to a portion of the Old Testament.

To Chevalier Bunsen, as an individual, I can but desire all good; Catholic truth teaches each to fear for himself, to hope for all until the end comes, and after this visible life is past, the Judgment is with Him Alone from Whom no secrets are hid. It has been the result of the unhappy state of Germany, that individuals have had to gain their own faith, or their early faith is exposed to rude shocks, which we, in God's mercy, are spared, and they are deprived of the authority upon which we, in times of difficulty, may lean. But what is the excuse for individuals, (and we trust the plea may stand for many in the sight of GOD,) is the condemnation of the system of which these have been the fruits, and a warning to us to avoid all contact with it, unless we too would partake of its plagues.

Yet I

And now, in conclusion, I turn from this painful task of vindicating the strictures upon Chevalier Bunsen's book, gladly to own faults in early writings of my own. It is probably unknown to Archdeacon Hare, that it is now many years since I retracted the erroneous view of inspiration, which he has again brought forward from earlier writings of mine, now I hope forgotten. thank him for the opportunity he affords me once again to retract that, and whatever else in them is contrary to the sense of the Church. Still, in so doing, I ought also to say that no principles contained in them were ever intended to apply to cases such as he would employ them for. I do not blame him. Since I used language capable of being understood beyond what was meant, any wrong impression as to what I actually held, is a very slight penalty. I grieve now to see what I then wrote, and that I admitted of "minute errors in historical passages in which no religious truth was contained." What I held, I held in common with some previous writers in our Church, and intended it no further than they. Yet I did not then see how vague this language was, or how people could vary as to what was religious truth, how little was often contained in the unhappy words I adopted: or, on the other hand, how each jot and tittle in Holy Scripture has its own deep meaning. On that former occasion I thankfully owned that thoughts suggested to me by the author of the "Christian Year" brought me, through the grace of GoD, to a better mind on the subject. I fear there may be other things to retract in those books, as I would wish to recall, what on authority which I then thought undoubted, that of the unhappy M. Blanco White, I said of the Spanish and Italian clergy, and which Archdeacon Hare has quoted. I would retract also what in that same work I said in praise of Luther, and am glad to take shame to myself for rashly expressing an opinion upon a subject on which I was not qualified to judge. Yet even then I saw that the form which the foreign Reformation took, not long after its birth, was the cause of its ultimate decay; and what I wrote, I

wrote under a vivid fear, lest a state of things, corresponding to what then existed, a stiff and lifeless adherence to partial views of truth, and on the other hand a decaying Pietism, might among ourselves be as powerless to resist Rationalism, as they had been already found in Germany. It was at a later period, yet still not from any prejudice against the foreign Reformers, but while wishing to think well of them, that I came to see the real character of the foreign Reformation as a whole, and that we had never come in contact with it, or its doctrinal works, whether in earlier, or (as in the case of Witsius and his school) in later times, without harm to ourselves. Your faithful servant,

E. B. PUSEY.

REVIEWS AND NOTICES.

A Guide to the celebration of Matins and Evensong, by BENJAMIN JOULE, Jun., Honorary Chapel-Master, Holy Trinity Church, Manchester. 8vo. pp. 24. London: Masters. Oxford: Parker.

In several respects, this little Manual is deserving of great commendation. It vindicates the proper ecclesiastical use of the word "saying."

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Unisonous singing (observes the author in his preface,) has not only all the authority which antiquity can give, but possesses also the recommendation of simplicity and universal applicability. If the people generally are to respond in church, no other mode is practicable: for can all learn to sing? Have all an ear for music? Have all leisure or money to spend on instructions sufficient to enable them to take, in a harmonized composition, the part best adapted to their voice?" These are very just remarks, and we sincerely thank Mr. Joule for providing us with a Manual which, he assures us, those who use "may have the satisfaction of knowing that they are saying the words of the Prayer Book in the manner sanctioned by the uninterrupted practice of the Church, until the spirit of modern innovation required the addition of harmonies, and the introduction of other unauthorized interpolations." The work contains the musical notation for the entire matins and even. song, (the Canticles and Psalms alone excepted,) the Athanasian Creed, the Litany, and the Communion Office. For the Psalms, the Grego. rian Tones are recommended; but the recommendation is accompanied by a very needless apology. We observe with pleasure that the use of the Benedictus, the Magnificat, and the Nunc Dimittis is also enjoined, to the exclusion of the other Canticles allowed by a recent Rubric in our Book of Common Prayer. Instead of carrying his Manual to church, Mr. Joule advises persons to mark each note with its appropri ate sign in their Prayer Books, thus :—

"The LORD be with you. A|CCC."

"O LORD shew Thy mercy up- |-on us. C | A B.”

"An Historical and Architectural Guide to Peterborough Cathedral," by OWEN W. DAVYS. London: Whittaker.

This is a little book, but deserving of large commendation. All previous histories of English Cathedrals with which we are acquainted, have been written either by mere archæologists or by persons of imperfect education. Mr. Davys' volume is full of interest and information; and what is more to the purpose, does not hesitate to assign blame where blame is due. The account which is given of the Cathedral is, indeed, painful. For the last twenty years, "little has been done towards carrying on the restoration of the Cathedral;" although the statutes require the service to be performed according to the manner and rites of other Cathedral Churches," there is no musical intonation; the choristers of late years have not received a classical education, and consequently, a lower grade of boys now only offer themselves as candidates for offices which ought to prove nurseries of the priesthood. These facts, and every thing that we have heard or seen of Peterborough, betoken a miserably low tone of feeling and practice. Yet Mr. Davys thinks that he observes the dawning of a better era. May it be so. His book, we are sure, will largely aid in its revival. And glad shall we be to find other competent persons essaying to be the historians of our cathedral and collegiate churches. What, for example, can be more miserable than our Oxford and Cambridge "Guides"?

Observations on Natural History, by Rev. LEONARD JENYNS, M.A., &c., Vicar of Swaffham Bulbeck. London: Van Voorst, 12mo. pp. 440. THIS is the work of a very careful observer; and will form a worthy companion to White's Selborne, and books of that class. What may be stated as its greatest merit is this, that while it abounds in interesting anecdotes concerning the habits of animals, these are always made to be subservient to strict scientific accuracy. As an instance of this characteristic, we may mention that the book contains a "Calendar of Periodic Phenomena," in which are noted the mean and two extreme dates at which certain birds first sang, flowers blossomed, or insects appeared in the author's own neighbourhood during a period of eleven years. Contrast this habit of close observation with what the author relates of a farmer who had lived all his life among cattle, without remarking the well-known fact, that in rising from the ground the horse always gets first upon his fore legs, and the ox upon his hind legs! and we have the difference between intelligence and stupidity. It was not learning nor education that made these two men to differ; but the cultivation by the one of certain natural faculties which the other had not cared to exercise.

In the Bishop of Lincoln's Charge just published, (Rivingtons,) forty pages, we observe, are devoted to the ghost of a defunct controversy; and four-and-a-half to the consideration of the state of the Diocese. It is painful to appear to speak in derogation of our spiritual superiors: but we must take leave to say that we have never felt more humbled for the English Church than in perusing the present Charge. That a Bishop, bearing upon his head the responsibilities of the See of

Lincoln, should have the heart to think or speak of any other subject than the crying negligence of the clergy, is a fact that really surpasses our comprehension. We have no desire to bring railing accusations against our brethren, but we do in our conscience believe that there is no Diocese in Christendom where so low a standard of ministerial responsibility exists as in that of Lincoln. We speak not of clerical delinquencies, such as are contemplated by Church Discipline Acts. But if scanty, ill-attended services, dilapidated churches, an uneducated population, joined with non-residence and pluralities, are a scandal and disgrace to a clergy,-where, we ask, will they be found to abound more than in the Diocese of Lincoln? Under these circumstances, to find two successive triennial charges of a Bishop almost entirely occupied with discussions about the Council of Trent, of which nineteen twentieths of his clergy, are (and as things are, had much better continue) supremely ignorant, does fill us, we must confess, with most intense shame and regret. How different would have been the thought and language of Bishop Wilson! Should any one question the propriety of remarks of this nature appearing in a Magazine, we reply that a Charge when sold in the market, falls into the same category as all other publications, and is no longer exempt from criticism. On this principle we shall venture to act, whenever it seems expedient to do so We pray that the occasion may seldom arise.

To the list before given of improved devotional works, we have pleasure in adding a Catechism to be learnt before the Church Catechism, (Masters,) which in soundness and simplicity, is every thing that we could desire. We would also call attention to a Manual for Confirmation and First Communion (Burns). This is taken chiefly from the writings of Bishop Wilson, but has been worked up with considerable skill, so as to possess a unity and character of its own. From the binding, we conclude that it belongs to the "Practical Christian's Library;" a series, we may remark, which will confer a double benefit on the Church, if it first secures for us such manuals, and then by the weight of its name stamps them with something of authority,-as much authority, perhaps, as under present circumstances is attainable.

The Church and the Meeting-House, or a Layman's Plea for Episcopal Authority, (Rivingtons and Burns,) appears to have been called forth by the "Free-Church schism at Exeter; and owing to this circumstance, is characterized by rather a higher tone of argument than has usually marked tracts of this nature. Moreover, it possesses a greater pretence of typography, being printed in that remarkably clear type, which Mr. Whittingham has with such good taste revived from ancient examples. So much we can conscientiously say in praise of this little book. At the same time we cannot help feeling, that could the Church be seen to realize in practice the high position which persons are at pains to claim for her, it would do much more towards convincing men, than any number of pamphlets.

Dialogues on Confirmation, and A Word of Council to Parents of Children attending Parochial Schools, (Burns,) are two tracts that may be recommended with safety.

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THE LITURGY OF THE CHURCH IN PAST AND PRESENT TIMES.

The Ancient Liturgy of the Church of England, &c. By the Rev. WILLIAM MASKELL, M.A. 8vo. London: Pickering. 1846.

WHO could have foreseen twenty years ago that a time was so near when the (unreformed) Liturgies of the English Church would be put into the hands of Churchmen of this day, not as objects of mere antiquarian curiosity, nor exhibited with scoffing contempt, as the tares which the enemy had sown among the wheat of true religion; but as venerable monuments of a living Christianity, fruitful of heroic deeds and holy lives; one in essence, we trust, with that which we now profess ? We cannot, indeed, flatter ourselves that all English Churchmen will feel reverence for our ancient service-books; and, perhaps, Mr. Maskell speaks more hopefully than the aspect of things warrants; but words such as these, which occur in the preface to his learned work, are in themselves good signs.

"That temper of mind, we may trust, is rapidly passing away, in which we have feared to come in contact, as with unholy things, with the ancient Liturgies and Offices (which are indeed the monuments) of the English Church. Men have been accustomed to speak slightingly, and with harsh words also, of holy prayers, which for a thousand years rose through the aisles of our village, equally with our cathedral, churches; and of solemn rites, by which devotion was not only quickened, but directed to its proper end."+

Would that the pious feelings towards our ancient rituals which these words express, might spread soon, and widely; that we might speak of the prejudice against them, or rather entire ignorance about them, as something past and gone! But Mr. Maskell will not let us forget that they are not mere records of the ancient English Church, to be looked upon with interest, reverent indeed and affectionate, but barren of practical fruit; more than this, that they are sacred documents, reminding us of many things true, and holy, which we have either forgotten or were in the way to forget; and many useful points of discipline, and many touching and solemn observances, which we have lost, for our sins and the sins of our forefathers, and which we are only hoping to regain. The Editor forewarns us of a great struggle hanging over us for the

Thus the Puritans spoke of the Eastern Liturgies. Vide Thorndike. + Preface, p. clviii.

VOL. II.-DEC., 1846.

S S