them. Who can say whether the prodigality of Louis XIV,, and the profligacy of his successor, may not be visited on the head of our present amiable sovereign?'

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Surely that were to suspect Divine Providence of injustice.' "Not so. We must not measure God's favour by outward prosperity; but rather believe that whom he loveth he chasteneth.' is not wealth and worldly comfort that are the surest evidence of a healthy condition. A haughty spirit goes before a fall.' They who refuse to bend their hearts to God's service in prosperity, are often taught their duty by the bitter lesson of adversity.'

The squires of England have never treated their dependents in the manner of the seigneurs of old France; but there is a moral to be drawn from the remarks of the Vendean Curé which the gentlemen of England would do well to lay to heart. Mr. Gresley's observations upon "Young England" are deserving of consideration, and may check the raillery of those who are disposed to sneer at this section of the English political world :

"When a country is in an ill condition, its ruin may be precipitated by a single rash or feeble act; or, on the other hand, be indefinitely postponed, until it shall have had time to recover its healthy tone; and so may anarchy be checked in its progress by a timely act of vigour and determination. The destruction of the Jacobins (by the youth of Paris, all the active young men of the best families, formed into a company called 'la torupe doree") is an event not perhaps sufficiently dwelt on in the annals of the revolution, but it is one of most important example. It is a fact which should be widely known and often thought of. Times may come when the enthusiasm of Young England' may be employed as the most appropriate and effective means of saving our own country from the violence of democratic mobs. There is, let us trust, a right spirit amongst us, which will be ready to respond, when called on, to save the country, But far better would it be if Young England' and Old England' would join together betimes, and resolutely adopt such measures as shall better the moral and physical condition of the people, and save our over-burdened and over-populated country from the calamities that are ready to fall on it, if great and wise exertions are not made for its improvement. And it is not so much by political measures that this desirable object is to be attained, though often the legislature might advantageously step in to defend the weak and helpless; but that which is most needed, and which the youngest amongst us may join in, perhaps more successfully than the old, is the establishment of kindly feelings between rich and poor, and a charitable interest in their welfare; and most especially by uniting together in those holy offices of religion which our Church enjoins. Let the religious feeling of past years be revived amongst us, and high and low, young and old, learn to worship God and sing his praises together; and it would do more to heal the wounds of the country, and avert calamity, than any other means within our power,"

The Hope of the Apostolic Church; or, the Duties and Privileges of Christians in Connexion with the Second Advent, as unfolded in the First Epistle of St. Paul to the Thessalonians; being Lectures delivered during Lent, 1845, at St. George's, Bloomsbury. By Twelve Clergymen of the Church of England. With a Preface by the Rev. T. R. BIRKS. London: Nisbet. 1845.

"This volume contains a fourth series of lectures on prophecy, preached in London during the season of Lent; the first at West-street Episcopal Chapel, and the others at St. George's Bloomsbury. The first series treated of the prophecies which refer to the Jews, and the three others, including the present volume, relate immediately to the second coming of our Lord. This great hope of the Church has been considered-first, as a great doctrine of faith; next, as a motive for practical holiness; and lastly, as it is presented in one of the earliest epistles, inwrought into the whole texture of the word of God......Such is the hope which was set before the Apostolic Church in this earliest message of the Spirit of God. How totally unlike the delusive counterfeits which folly and superstition have often set up in its stead! And now, after eighteen centuries have passed, surely it should be dearer to the Christian than ever, and occupy a still larger space in his meditations and prayers."-Preface).

It is the special duty of the reviewer to mark the signs of the times, as they appear in the literature of the day; to catch their present import, and look forward towards the issues which they portend, and watch the means whereby men seek to accomplish the ends or purposes which they have in view. That this is a remarkable sign none can deny; it is the revival of a doctrine which has been suffered to fall into oblivion-which has been practically excluded by the paramount, all-absorbing importance which attached to the doctrines of conversion, and personal holiness, and the kingdom of God within. Doctrines of supreme importance these truly are, but they ought not to have been so stated as to exclude the doctrine concerning the coming of our Lord, since they are not incompatible therewith but the prepa ration for that event; since assuredly, without holiness no man shall see the Lord, and it is in waiting for a holy Church that the day of the Lord is delayed. "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise (as some count slackness), but is long suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night. (2 Pet. iii. 9).

The names of the clergymen who have delivered them, is a guarantee for the othodoxy of these lectures-viz., Rev. E. Bickersteth; Rev. Thomas Woodrooffe; Rev. W. Niven; Rev.

C. J. Goodhart; Rev. J. E. Bates; Rev. E. Lillingston; Rev. W. G. Barker; Rev. T. R. Birks; Hon. and Rev. H. M. Villiers; Rev. Mourant Brock; Rev. W. Marsh; and Rev. R. W. Dibdin. And being all on the epistle to the Thessalonians, each lecture brings out and inculcates some one duty or some principal grace as characteristic of those who are looking for the coming of the Lord. Such as the duty of continually waiting, and the full exercise of hope, and the abounding in love, holi ness, &c. All of which are to be held not in exclusiveness, but in the exercise of all the graces of the Spirit, and with abiding confidence on the faithfulness of God, in the promises he has made to the Church.

It would be little better than impertinence in us to offer any comment on these lectures.

Illustrations of the Law of Kindness. By the Rev. G. W. MONTGOMERY, London Wiley and Putnam.

It has been well remarked that had the philanthropist Howard accomplished no direct advantages from his wanderings about the cities of the earth, for the purpose (to use Burke's fine eulogy) "of taking the guage and dimensions of human misery," yet has he left a legacy worth the costly purchase in his verifications of the moral fact, that no amount of crime and punishment and disgrace, in the utter wreck they are capable of making of all the ordinary vestiges of humanity, can destroy also that lone relic of the divine image, which makes the most abject of the abject overcome by acts of kindness. Of this truthwhich, in fact, enters as an element of human happiness wherever two frail beings are called to live together, and therefore to bear with each other's frailties; this little unpretending-yet very soothing book affords some beautiful illustrations. It might be introduced into many a family as a messenger of peace, to transform that most wretched of earthly scenes, a place of discord, into the abode of quietness, and love, and peace. We gladly, therefore, recommend it to both young and old, married and unmarried, as shewing the master-golden key for unlocking the richest possessions of social and domestic happiness,

The Mysteries Opened, or Scriptural Views of Preaching and the Sacraments. By the Rev. JOHN S. STONE, D.D., Rector of Christ Church, Brooklyn. London: Wiley and Putnam.

THOSE who wish to see what are called Low Church Views of preaching and the Sacraments, advocated with considerable eloquence and ability, will find much gratification in Dr. Stone's work.

The Mystery of God's Dealing with the Jews. By A. C. BARCLAY, author of the "Four Dispensations." London: Painter. 1845. THE questions which have been raised in the Church concern{ ing the Jews, as to the place they at present occupy, and as tod their future destinies, in the purpose of God, depend mainly upon the way in which the Scriptures which speak of them are i understood-whether they are understood literally, on are to beve interpreted figuratively; and this both in reference to the parties interested in the promises, and the accomplishment of the pro mises so made. All are agreed, that in former times, before, the coming of Christ, before the rejection of the Jews, these Script tures could only be understood in one way, and that literally: there were no Jews save the descendants of Abraham, and they w all expected the promises made to the fathers, would have their accomplishment to the very letter. But when the spiritual dise pensation came in, and Gentiles also were gathered into the Christian Church; when the partition wall was broken down t and it was declared that, in Christ Jesus, neither circumeision availed nor uncircumcision; and when it had been shown that God no longer recognised him as a Jew who was outwardly one, o but him who was a Jew inwardly-the circumcision of the hearti and not of the flesh-then the very name of Jew came to be rest garded as only figurative, and the promises as figurative also al

Men were confirmed in this view by observing, that many of the promises, and even those which are most glorious or mosted desirable, were to be realized in the Christian dispensation; thator some of them actually had been realized; and that, not in aditeral, but a spiritual sense: :while it was observable, on the other/ hand, that the most marked of the distinctions, and the most: enviable of the privileges of the Jews, had ceased or had beens formally abrogated-abrogated in order that it might be shown that Christ was the end of the law, and that no shelter might remain in the shadowy thing for those who were shrinking from the substance and reality which was actually come into manifes tation. Added to which was the clear bounden duty of everyt Christian of telling to every Jew that there is no salvation but w by faith in Christ Jesus; that it is not possible for the blood of bulls and of goats to take away sin: and the Jew has even less-t excuse than any other man, since all his privileges were given t him only to lead him to Christ, and he virtually brings the greatest dishonour upon God, who would seem to have done all es these things in vain, whenever a Jew stops short of becoming aso Christian whenever one who has been taught the rudiments6 refuses to apply them, and learn the thing to which they leadin

And this is true throughout, in the primary and the highest sense-there is no salvation out of the Christian Church. Man, as he is found according to nature, is incapable of attaining the kingdom of heaven. Every man is thus incapable, whether he be Jew or Gentile. "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." Yet, as we find the Jews still continuing a separate people, and as they seem to be preserved thus distinct by the Providence of God; as there are literal Jews still, who still cling fast to promises, which they believe literally apply to themselves, as a distinct people; and, as these are contained in the Scriptures, which we also. acknowledge as the word of God, and received originally from Jews-as these things are so, it well becomes us to enquire wherefore the Jews are thus kept a distinct people, and what ground there is in Scripture for believing that some ulterior purpose shall be accomplished through them, in their distinct character as a separate people-as mere Jews, not as preparing for Christianity?

This is the question which Mr. Barclay attempts to elucidate in the little volume before us: and he comes to the point at once, by assuming that there is such a purpose to be accomplished, and assuming also that the Scriptures are to be understood literally; leaving those who have any doubts on these preliminary questions, to find the solution of such doubts or difficulties in the best manner they may. And his readers should be aware of this; and if they do not believe that the Jews are reserved for some future work, and do not think that the Scriptures are to be understood literally, they should not find fault with Mr. Barclay, if they are not convinced on these points by what they find in this work. The form which the mystery has taken, and the elucidation which the Scriptures when literally understood may afford, and the lessons taught to us in the working out of that mystery, are the points handled, and it is not right to mix them up with other questions.

The point from whence Mr. Barclay commences his exposition is the declaration of St. Paul, the apostle of the Gentiles, who, writing to the Romans, says "I would not have you ignorant of this mystery," (xi. 25)-inferring that it is important in itself as a mystery, and also that it is a matter of importance that the whole Church should be made acquainted with it. For that so far from the Jews being cast off finally and blotted out, as it were, from the roll of God's purpose, they have been only cast off for a time, in order to gather a Church from both Jew and Gentile; and when this intermediate work shall be accomplished, the Jews shall again come into distinct prominency,

VOL. XVIII.-Q