high and solemn views. Here also our space will only permit us to give a single extract.

"Heroism! To those who consider rightly, it is a far nobler thing now, when it is no longer a sound to mark the glowing excitement, the lofty enthusiasm, which fights and struggles in the brilliant mid-day, gilded by the sun, all warm and genial; but the slow silent death-struggle of the soul in solitude, darkness, and obscurity, against the heavy, wearying, every-day evils of every-day actual life; sacrifices of the hourly and the small, but the sum of which is existence-not offered in the fervour of the moment, but given, as it were, by inches; the heroic devotion to others, and those others not even worthy far from grateful, too often resentful; combining patience, perseverance, endurance, gentleness, and disinterestedness: that is the heroism of our day."

These are the " fireside virtues," to the description and inculcation of which we would desire that our female writers should confine themselves. And, we would suggest, the more they descend into the middle rank of life, the more useful will their efforts be. In "Cressingham," a tale that we lately noticed, all the characters are Lords and Ladies!

The Ministry of the Body, by the Rev. W. R. EVANS, M.A., Vicar of Heversham, &c., Author of the "Bishopric of Souls," &c. London: Rivingtons. 1847.

We have read Mr. Evans's new work with the most lively satisfaction; it is full of sober practical thought,-homely, some may say, but neither mean nor dull. In fact, it is the consistent evolution of the doctrine of the redemption and sanctification of the body as well as the spirit of man, in order to eternal life, into all its chief consequences. Our readers will agree with us when we deplore the wonderful neglect of this article of the faith which characterizes modern popular theology in this and other countries; the extent to which this has been carried, however, and its unconscious influence on ourselves, is not fully appreciated, and Mr. Evans's book will, it is probable, rouse in many minds a conviction that they have given way in some degree to the pseudospiritualism of the day without being aware of it, or of the legitimate consequences of its loose impressions and undogmatic assumptions. To those of our readers who are engaged in parochial ministrations, we would especially commend "The Ministry of the Body" as a very useful guide and key to the wonderful exhibitions of pietism which they must be constantly meeting with. The tone, also, of many parish sermons would, we think, be much improved if men would bear in mind some of Mr. Evans's plain truths, and remember that constant allusions, such as we hear in most pulpits, to inward affections and emotions, without the association and connexion with means and instruments, actions and habits which alone render them cognizable to the ordinary mind, must prove, if not the origin, at least fostering propagators of the unnatural and fatal dissociation of humanity which the popular religionism of the century inculcates with such successful impertinence. The spiritualist, strange as it may seem to say so, allows of no test but the evidence of the senses, for with all his profession, he reduces unseen things to such an inane abstraction, that

no practical reality but that which can submit to such a test remains. The forgotten truths here advocated are the only corrective of this

error.

The Connection between Outward and Inward Worship. A Sermon preached at New Shoreham, &c., by W. DonsWORTH, M.A., &c. Brighton R. Folthorpe. London: Rivingtons. 1847.

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A VERY seasonable and appropriate protest against the absurd confusion of ideas which is so common on the subject of the forms of Divine worship in the Christian Church. The glaring imparity between the abolished ceremonial of the Levitical Law and the outward and visible signs of the Christian Sacraments, &c. which is so perseveringly overlooked by modern Puritans is forcibly set forth. The occasion on which this Sermon was preached was the offering of a new organ at New Shoreham, and the proceeds of the sale are to be devoted towards paying for it.

A Letter to the Committee of the London City Mission, by M. W. BALLANTINE, late City Missionary. London: Rivingtons.

Tuis is another renunciation of the City Mission, by one of its agents, which does as much credit to the heart of Mr. Ballantine by the gentleness of its tone, as those, who read the following passage, will admit that it does to his understanding by soundness of reasoning :

"The improvement of the lower classes much depends upon the kind of visitors which are sent to them, and, in order to form a correct estimate of those which the City Mission employs, I cannot do better than refer to the speech of the HON. and REV. B. NOEL, at your last Annual Meeting, as given in your Report. When speaking of the missionaries, he says, that they do very well for the poor, because they are but a little raised above their own ranks, and acquainted with all their ways.' This portion of his speech casts much light upon their qualifications; and, I must not forget to say, caused not a little dissatisfaction among us missionaries, and especially that portion of us who fancy we are a kind of ministers.

"If the 255,228 meetings of the City Mission, which have been held among the poor, for the last eleven years, had been used for the advocacy of one system of truth, by well qualified and educated men, then how glorious would have been the result! But by Mr. Noel's assertion, the Mission sends forth men to teach, who ought rather to be sent to school to learn. But it may be said, the ability of missionaries as spiritual instructors, is considered by some as being that of a very high order, even far superior to educated ministers. I refer to the speech of the Rev. B. Noel, who, when adverting to the qualification of missionaries, speaks as follows:-The common sense of every man tells him, that this is precisely the agency required; and then I put it again to the common sense of every man, whether wE MINISTERS in this City, either dissenting or clergymen, are just the best men to do this. I do not believe we could present the truth to these classes with half the power of THESE MEN.'

"I feel not a little diffidence in criticizing the words of a person, so much admired by some, as Mr. Noel; nevertheless, I must abide the result. The words then, just quoted, place the ministers of the Gospel in the very opposite

position from that in which they were intended by their Divine Master to stand.

"Mr. Noel says, 'WE, ministers, are not the best to do this.' To do what? I ask to visit the fatherless and widow in their affliction,' to 'weep with those who weep;' to be instant in season and out of season? If what the Hon. and Rev. Gentleman states be correct, then it must follow, that CITY MISSIONARIES are the fittest persons to be employed in the arduous and glorious work of the Christian ministry; and it would only be just, that THE MINISTERS, 'dissenting or clergymen,' who think as Mr. Noel does, should give up their cures to the City Missionaries, and should hand over their incomes to them. Will Mr. Noel set the example?

"It is the duty of every minister of the Church to visit the poor and others in the parish or district which is appointed him by the Bishop; and I cannot understand how a minister who is alive to the responsibility of his engagement, can suffer an uneducated man to do the work for which he has been educated, and to do which, he entered into the most solemn covenant, at his ordination, as will be seen by the ordination service in the Prayer Book.

"I will now proceed, briefly, to examine a sentiment which was uttered by the Rev. JH- incumbent of the District Church of All Saints, Spitalfields. The view which this gentleman has of the City missionaries, is one which, if true, raises them to a standard above the degree of 'curates.' 'These,' he says (speaking of the missionaries,) These, my dear brothers in Christ, the best brothers I ever had, help me in my labours better than if I had three curates. I have had curates; and could not get half the work out of them.' Whether Mr. H- means to say that he dismissed his curates for not doing what he considered a sufficient amount of labour, and employed City Missionaries in their place (for whom the public pays) is not fully stated, but seems to be plainly implied. Perhaps the Rev. Gentleman looks upon the mission as a kind of cheap expedient, by which he may be relieved from paying his curates; but, whatever may be his objections against curates, he ought to have known better than to have spoken so harshly of them; for, probably, the same reason which he urges as an excuse for not visiting the POOR himself, had in a measure hindered his curates also in the same work; which ought to have been a matter of regret, rather than censure, from him. 'I began,' says he, to visit from house to house; I soon found that I could not get through half a street in a day and I was disabled frequently from the foul and foetid atmosphere I was obliged to inhale.' Whether the poisonous effluvium or foetid atmosphere' is less destructive to the lungs of a City missionary than of a City incumbent, I must leave to physiologists to determine.

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"But your Society, Gentlemen, professes to be a neutral society; it pretends to look with a most impartial eye on all forms of religion, and to promote the interests of all alike!

"Now, I ask, is this the case? I feel some difficulty in adverting to the speeches of individuals; but, as they were delivered publicly, and are printed in your widely-circulated Reports, I suppose that no one has any right to complain of their being quoted by me. Perhaps your speakers and reporters may be more cautious for the future. Let me refer, then, to the speech of the RIGHT HON. THE EARL OF DUCIE, delivered in Exeter Hall on the 7th of May, 1846. 'Where,' said he, is the Bishop who shall interfere with Mr. B. Noel for coming here? aud where is the Bishop that dare do it? not in London, at all events. Why, is there no Bishop here?' This was a positive violation of its neutrality, as you call it: how was it the chairman of your 'neutral' Society did not call him to order? Now, Gentlemen, this language was an absolute breach of all rule, to say nothing of the spirit in which it was spoken. One thing, however, is very obvious, that neither the chairman nor the committee, on that occasion, 'dared' to do their duty, which was to

bring the nobleman to a sense of his; and one reason why he was allowed to go on was, doubtless, because he, being a nobleman, is just the kind of patron for which you so ardently pant; and if the committee and chairman could thus sit, and hear the Church and her Bishops abused, and that publicly too, will not they wink at similar conduct when it is practised by your missionaries in the abodes of the unsuspecting poor? If, therefore, the destruction of the Established Church of England be in any way calculated to benefit the English nation, then by all means let the Mission be supported, which is one of the most mighty engines which has been put in action for many ages, to accomplish that purpose."

The Manger of the Holy Night, with the Tale of the Prince Schreimund and the Princess Schweigstilla. From the German of Guido Gorres. By C. E. H., Morwenstow. London: J. Masters. J. Burns. 1847.

THIS is a new volume of the "Juvenile Englishman's Library," and we think it worthy of its place on the whole, though the introduction to "the Manger of the Holy Night" has somewhat too much of pretence about it. The gist of it is, that on that night there is a custom abroad of suspending, over the Christmas Tree, a birch rod as a wholesome and timely memento for little folk at that their own especial season for merry making; the origin whereof, being sought high and low, cannot be discovered till the seeker falls in with a mysterious person who gives him a scroll containing the history that follows. Of course the scroll, &c., is only a dream. This after all is but a clumsy contrivance, but the story is well given. It is the history of a proud prosperous king and his two children, who are brought to their senses by a train of disasters and the severe schooling of misfortune. We think it a little hard here and there, but withal not more so than is perhaps wholesome, and to many children, pleasurable.

We have pleasure in noticing a novel attempt to draw attention to a correct ritual observance in MR. WATSON'S Clergyman's Companion in the Celebration of Divine Service (Masters). The plan embraces a statement of each day's Services at length, with blank spaces left for the Anthems or Psalms. As might be expected in the present defective practice of the Church, the work is not without errors both of fact and judgment. For example, Mr. Watson always gives the notice of Holy Communion before that of the Festivals; which is plainly contrary to the Rubric. Neither can we agree with his directions about the use of Collects at Vigils, or understand why the Jubilate should have priority given to it at Matins from Advent to the Tuesday after Quinquagesima, and the Benedictus from the First Day of Lent to the return of Advent. The fact is, as may be more plainly seen in the blunders of the "Oxford, Cambridge, Durham, London, and Dublin University Almanack," it is impossible to extract a rule from our Rubrics, without adverting to the traditional practice of the Church at the time these Rubrics were composed. In many instances they are confessedly obscure; and we are reduced to the alternative of every individual Clergyman, or at least every compiler

of an almanack, putting his own sense upon them, or else we must strictly adhere to one law; and that law is the old use of the Church.

As an evidence of what the use of even the Post-Reformation Church was in a point above referred to, it will be found that the music in the early English Services," is always given for the Benedictus and never for the Magnificate. Modern "Services" invariably do the contrary. We hope that before this many of our readers will have seen the first number of a little new Periodical, called the Churchman's Companion. But it is a publication that is suited for all; the drawing-room, the servants'-hall, or the reading-room will be alike benefited by it; and the price is so low, that nothing but a very large circulation can possibly remunerate the publishers. The object of the Magazine is to convey both amusement and instruction: and in literary merit it certainly far surpasses the average publications of this class. We shall watch its progress with great interest.

From Oxford to Rome, and how it fared with some who lately made the Journey by a Companion Traveller (Longmans), is a title which will be certain to secure readers. At the same time, we do not see that there are any who will rise from the perusal of the contents without disappointment, and a positive feeling of discomfort. Low Churchmen will be disgusted with the Author's admiration of the externals of religion; high Churchmen will be pained to find that in doctrinal points he still retains the cant of evangelical phraseology. In effect, we fear the volume will go to foster the prejudice which mischievous spirits are striving by all means to spread, that the natural result of high Church principles is Rome. And of such a positive intention we apprehend the writer (who can be none other than Mr. Sibthorp) cannot be acquitted, seeing that it is expressed in his very title-page. After this account, our readers will be surprised to learn that the book ends with an enthusiastic prediction that the new Pope is destined to restore unity and purity to Christendom!

What one Work of Mercy can I do this Lent? (Burns)-a Letter to a friend, bearing the initials of Archdeacon Manning, is a most seasonable enforcement of the duty of abstinence on the ground of the present distress.

MR. LANDON's translation of Pereira's learned Tentativa Theologica, (Masters), cannot fail to command attention at the present moment. We hope to review it at length in an early Number.

Those who are indebted for their education to Sir Thomas Sutton's noble Foundation will welcome with satisfaction the Chronicles of Charterhouse (London: Bell). It is a volume of considerable merit, and records the vicissitudes of the House as a Monastery, as an Impropriation, and as a School, with great impartiality and good feeling.

MR. WOODHOUSE of Albrighton, has published a Volume of Sermons, (Rivingtons), of which, we are sorry to say, neither the style nor the theology are to be commended.

Michael the Chorister (Burns).—This a tale well calculated to interest the young; and shows incidentally how much might be done, under a better system, with this too often neglected class of boys.

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