Siculus, Sesostris drew, establishes the fact, that Arabia was then independent: at a very early period these people are also stated to have allied themselves with Belesis and Arbaces against Sardanapalus and it is clear from Herodotus, that they were never subjugated by the successors of Cyrus. Alexander died before he could invade Arabia; and Antigonus was twice severely defeated in the attempt. Nor were the Romans more successful: their arms were easily victorious as far as the commencement of the deserts, but they were a barrier which their conquering armies could not pass. Thus the Arabs never forfeited their independence up to that period, when they became assailants and invaders: their hand was indeed against every man, and every man's hand was against them. Within their deserts, the native seats of the Ishmaelites, they have never been conquered, and have literally and circumstantially fulfilled the prophecy; than which we can desire no stronger evidence of a divine revelation.

The third lecture on the prophecies made to Abraham, Isaac, aud Jacob, yields not in utility to the preceding; but though the author is very clear respecting the Edomites, he does not enter upon the inquiry, whether Esau as Edom was the Hamyar of the Arabs, and whether a colony from Mount Seir moved to Arabia Petræa, and made the wonderful excavations in Petra. That on the prophecy of Jacob condenses considerable matter in a small space. In that upon the predictions of Balaam, the different senses in which the term prophet" occurs in the sacred writings, are not accurately distinguished from each other; it seems to be accepted in the most exalted, whereas some of the examples only apply to an inferior sense. Balaam was probably a mere diviner, as several eminent critics have conjectured; his shifting of the scene of action, and other devices, displayed but little conformity to the mode of the true prophets, so that the divine influence, which at last acted upon him, must be accounted the over-ruling power of the Almighty, constraining him to utter a prophecy, which was exactly contradictory to the object of his journey, but was not a proof that he was ordinarily the subject of divine communications. In fact, beyond this prophecy, Balaam exhibited no pretensions to the character of a prophet. As a juggler, and a politician, his character may be maintained. Much less would we rank Pharoah and Nebuchadnezzar among the Prophets on account of their dreams; yet on the principle that would place Balaam among the Prophets, this dignity might be claimed for them. Mr. Butler properly calls them profane and wicked persons, employed as the agents of Divine Revelations. In the character of Balaam he has discrimination, and indulges us with acute remarks: in his exposition of the prediction he has displayed the ability of condensation, but in our opinion has been occasionally too brief.

NO. VIII.-VOL. IV.

The few observations which we have made will suffice for this work, which is in every way calculated for circulation, and might be rendered very useful to schools and young people, on whom more elaborate books would be thrown away. It is written in a good style, and, as we have remarked, contains much in a small compass indeed, we know no treatise which might be more advantageously employed than this in inculcating the historical evidence of our religion on the rising generation. At the same time it is a manual from which one may proceed to an enlargement of the separate events. We wish Mr. Butler the success which his Lectures deserve.

The Testimony of St. Cyprian against Rome: an Essay towards determining the Judgment of St. Cyprian touching Papal Supremacy. By the Rev. GEO. AYLIFFE POOLE, B.A., Author of Sermons on the Apostles' Creed, &c. London: Duncan. 1838. MR. POOLE is unnecessarily apologetic in his preface about the Church of Rome, and his self-constituted distinction between Romanist and Romish. We have read St. Cyprian, but we never attached much importance to him. Our opinion decidedly is, that the farther we remove our inquiries from earlier Fathers, the more obscure will be our evidences of the opinions and practice of the primitive Church. If Cyprian had asserted the doctrine against which his testimony is adduced, we should not have admitted his authority; and we cannot in any case assign to him the deference and respect which we would have assigned to the Christian writers of the two first centuries. The works of Cyprian are not before us; but unless our memory sadly misguides us, they contain many things to which we would not readily subscribe.

Many writers of the present day lay an extraordinary stress on tradition: we have reviewed a work on the subject, and have seen letters on the subject in a newspaper: the Roman Catholics, too, lay an extraordinary stress on tradition: to both parties we would recommend an attentive consideration of Bishop Marsh's words, in his first Lecture on the Interpretation of the Bible, at the 272nd page:"There is not the slightest historical evidence that the Apostles transmitted to posterity any rule, but what is recorded in the New Testament." These friends to tradition are not only wanting in critical authority, but are preparing a serious mischief to the Church.

Cyprian was in a great degree a traditionist: and his expositions of Scriptural passages shew, that, though he was an eloquent, he was not a very learned man. But he was an honest man, and sealed the faith with his blood. According to the manner in which

Mr. Poole has considered St. Cyprian, he has proved his point; we mean, according to the authority which he conceives him to have possessed. His work is exceedingly erudite, and will be found váluable by writers on Ecclesiastical subjects, and indeed, is one necessary to a theological library. But our criticism being of a sterner nature, we wish to confine ourselves to the earlier writers, when we speak of Ecclesiastical authority. And when any thing is asserted to have been a primitive custom, we require not merely the authority of the Fathers, but evidence of that custom in the New Testament. What St. Cyprian thought or did not think is a question only of secondary importance: the first and the important questions are, whether the early Fathers gave any sanction to the papal supremacy, whether the New Testament in any way supports the claim and since it is very manifest, that the early Fathers and the New Testament deliver doctrines which are opposed to the notion, and contradictory to its principle, and since the history of this arrogant usurpation is well known, St. Cyprian's opinions are mere matters of literary curiosity in the present day. It remains to add, that we do not fully coincide with Mr. Poole on tradition, nor do we allow that our difference of opinion detracts from "the character of Anglican Churchmen." In fact, the Fathers contain so many fanciful and extraordinary passages, that the only tradition preserved by them to which we assent, is, that which may be verified by the Scriptures:-and such assuredly is

the direction of our Church.

Sermons on our Blessed Lord's Character and Pretensions, &c. &c. By the Rev. GEORGE WRAY, M.A., Chaplain to the Earl of Aberdeen, and late Lecturer of St. John's and the Parish Church at Leeds. London: Longman and Co. 1838.

Twenty-one Sermons, chiefly preached in Bethesda Chapel. By the Rev. B. W. MATHIAS, A.M., late Chaplain in Bethesda. Dublin: William Curry, jun. and Co. 1838.

Practical Sermons. By the Rev. GEORGE MOBERLY, D.C.L., Head Master of Winchester College, late Fellow and Tutor of Balliol College, Oxford. London: Rivingtons. 1838.

On the Apostolical Succession.-Parochial Lectures. (Second Series.) By WILLIAM J. IRONS, M.A., of Queen's College, Oxford, and Minister of St. Peter's, Walworth, Surrey. London: Rivingtons. 1838.

Plain Parochial Sermons. By the Rev. DANIEL PARSONS, M.A., Oriel College, Oxford, Curate of St. James's, Longton, Staffordshire. London: Rivingtons. 1838.

Twenty-one Plain Sermons, Doctrinal and Practical, originally preached before a Country Congregation. By E. EDWARDS,

Perpetual Curate of Marsden, in the Diocese of Ripon. London: Hatchard and Son.

1838.

Sermons delivered in India, during the course of the Primary Visitation. By DANIEL WILSON, D.D., Bishop of Calcutta, and Metropolitan. London: Hatchard and Son. 1838.

An Attempt to Illustrate those Articles of the Church of England, which the Calvinists improperly consider as Calvinistical; in Eight Sermons, preached before the University of Oxford, in the year 1804, at the Lecture founded by John Bampton, M.A., Canon of Salisbury. By RICHARD LAWRENCE, L.L.D., Archbishop; formerly Regius Professor of Hebrew in the University of Oxford, &c. &c. Third Edition, Revised and Enlarged. Oxford: John Henry Parker. 1838.

Sermons on Miscellaneous Subjects. By WILLIAM J. E. BENNETT, M.A. late Student of Christ Church, Oxford, Curate of All Souls; and Minister of Portman Chapel, St. Marylebone. Vol. I. London: William Jones Cleaver. 1838.

Family and Parochial Sermons. By the Rev. W. SHEPHERD, B.D., Curate of Cheddington, Bucks. London: Painter. 1838. Sermons by the late Rev. J. Marriott, M.A., Rector of Church Lawford, Warwickshire. Edited by his Son. London: Hatchard and Son.

1838.

Condensed Discourses, or Pulpit Helps. By a MINISTER. London: Hodson. 1838.

Sermons on the Second Advent of the Lord Jesus Christ. By the Rev. HUGH MC NEILE, M.A., Minister of St. Jude's Church, Liverpool. Third Edition. London: Hatchard. 1838. We have found it expedient to embody in one article the various Sermons on which we are required to make our remarks, because we thus obtain the power of devoting to those which have peculiar claims on our attention the space, which would otherwise be occupied by those which are not deserving of discussion, for which, under the present arrangement, a simple mention will be sufficient.

Mr. Wray's first sermon, in explanation of the Epistle to the Hebrews, and in proof of the Divinity of Christ, is worthy of a place among the exegetical writings upon the epistle; and the point of view, from which the author has surveyed the Apostle's arguments, is certainly that from which St. Paul directed them to the Jews. The series of sermons on the prophecies is very convincing and attractive; all are exactly what sermons should be, not mere declamation, but composed of solid materials, dressed in a style calculated to rivet the attention and to command the judgment of the audience. A few sermons directed to the understanding, like these, do more real good, than hundreds, which (if it be a recommenda

tion) have no recommendation, but their vehemence. To that on the prophecies fulfilled at the death of Jesus independent of himself, we particularly would lead our readers, in which the conciliation of the Evangelists respecting the Sabbath, on which Pilate was prayed, that the bodies should not be allowed to remain on the cross, because it was a high-day; the coincidence of time in the Crucifixion, and that time when the Paschal Lamb was appointed to be slain; the extraordinary accomplishment of Zechariah's prophecy by the treachery of Judas, and the peculiar appropriation of the wages of his treachery; the fulfilment of Isaiah's prediction, that the Messiah should make his grave with the wicked, by his crucifiction beween two thieves, the partition of his garments among the Roman soldiers, who could have known nothing of the Jewish prophecies, particularly the lots cast for his seamless cloak, just as the Psalmist had long since foretold; the piercing of his side, as Zechariah had forseen, the entire state, in which his bones were left (whilst the legs of the thieves were broken) in exact harmony with the enactment respecting his type, the Paschal Lamb; his honourable burial through the united cares of Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, both members of the Sanhedrin, verifying Isaiah's words, that he should be with the rich in his death; with various other accomplished predictions of minor importance, are worked together in this sermon with great power of argument, and great simplicity of diction. These are "a singular train of circumstances, which no human contrivance ever meditated, and no depth of skill or penetration would have ever imagined or achieved.”

Equally conclusive is the sermon on the fulfilment of the offices of the Messiah in Jesus of Nazareth. The Biblical knowledge, the depth of thought, and the clear juxta-position of circumstances, which are here displayed, are not only of a far higher rank, than that to which discourses, even of this nature, ordinarily rise, but entitle it to a pre-eminent place among the expositions of the Scriptures. That on the line of the Messiah is also a masterly performance.

It is with regret that we are compelled to pass by many of these valuable sermons-sermons which the critic and the simple inquirer after truth may read with equal advantage-sermons which, more especially in these times, are fitted to become models of those which should proceed from our pulpits. Piety without affectation, orthodoxy without taint, and learning without pedantry every where characterise them.

The sermons of Mr. Mathias are more of a practical nature. One of his observations merits a particular attention :

"A lawyer ignorant of the Statute-book-a physician who has not studied the art of medicine-a philosopher unacquainted with the writings