The hollow friend, and unsuspected foe, Now lift the curtain-nothing need be chang'd How, through their bounty, missions have been sent And in the next report he hopes to state, Whitechapel's self is made regenerate!' pp. 14-17. Each has his portion ere the scene be clos'd, And Peter seconds that which Paul propos'd; One puts the question, others grant assent, One hands the poor-man's penny box around, One chuckles o'er a more substantial pound; This thanks the landlord, that approves the chair; The many shout Hosanna to the cause, And swell the Christian clamour of applause'! p. 18. This is followed by a death-bed scene, in which this poetical Clerk draws a picture of the supposed effects which the addresses of some fierce and gloomy zealot' have had on the mind of a dying pauper. If the fiction has no counter-part in reality, it does the more credit to the Author's imagination, who cannot be expected to frequent the death-beds of the poor for the purpose of collecting materials for satire! Should he ever, in the course of his parish duties, be called to witness such a scene, we are afraid his theology would be of as little service as his wit, and that this exquisite censor would prove a " miserable comforter." Our Author, in conclusion, sketches out the romantic picture which his boyish fancy formed of the lot of the country rector. It is a vision worthy of boyhood: the civil squire who Half of my dues without a curse could spare, The ready flock, Who liked their parson better than the next, sufficiently indicate the sort of life this Clerk would like to lead, in a smiling country,' with a good glebe, and not too much duty. The wish is natural enough, and the country abounds with men of this negative character. This is their record, drawn by our poet himself, "Sober, not austere, "A churchman, honest to his Church, lies here : p. 26. We will add only two lines from a contemporary poet, who seems to have exactly appreciated such reverend sentimentalists as our Author: Like him, how many! could we make the search, Who, while they hate the Gospel, love the Church !' Art. VII. Christian Records; or a short and plain History of the Christian Church; containing an Account of the Lives of the Apostles, the Sufferings of Martyrs, the Progress of the Gospel in different Ages, the Rise of the Reformation, &c. &c. 18mo. pp. 354. Price 3s. 1816. THIS comprehensive little work is intended for the use of such persons as have neither time to read, nor spare money to purchase the volumes of our ecclesiastical historians; and the Author is entitled to our thanks for the goodness of his design, and for the labour which he has employed in condensing the materials with which his reading has supplied him, on the several topics included in the cheap publication before us, though we cannot applaud its execution. The service which he has performed, might have been acceptable to us, if he had used more discrimination in the compilation of its contents. Many particulars have occurred to us in our perusal of the < 6 book, which do not correspond to the statement in the preface, that the work consists of plain facts.' Incidents are put down, occasionally, as true, which are destitute of the authenticity requisite to invest them with the character of 'facts.' Of this kind are the following: He (Peter) was bishop of Antioch nine years.' p. 4. St. Mark was of the tribe of Levi,' p. 18. St. Luke was a Jewish proselyte, and one of the seventy disciples.' p. 19. The Apostle John's being put into a cauldron of boiling oil, p. 8. The story of the Thundering Legion, p. 32. Of the Theban Legion, p. 50. cum multis aliis. We are indeed surprised at the facility with which the Author puts down as matters of unquestionable certainty, points the most doubtful and circumstances the most improbable. Some writers seem to be afraid of believing too much: the fear of the present writer seems to be that of believing too little. On some topics, his statements are adapted to mislead the reader; as when he affirms of the primitive Christians, that they used forms of prayer, or liturgies in their public worship, p. 77. The use of Godfathers and Godmothers in the baptism of infants. p. 78. The observance of Festivals, p. 75. &c. These were practices which to the primitive Christians,' in the only proper acceptation of the terms, were unknown. A large proportion of the pages of this work, is occupied with details of persecutions; and here, we apprehend, the prejudices of the Author are discovered. He is truly copious in his narrative of the sufferings inflicted on the Protestants in the reign of the 'bloody queen Mary;' but he carefully conceals the cruelties of the Reformers of the English Protestant Church: Cranmer, as well as Bonner, imbrued his hands in the blood of religious Professors. The atrocities of the High Commission Court and Star Chamber under Elizabeth, James I. and Charles I. are passed over. Of the infamous measures pursued by the profligate Charles II. and his still more abandoned Ministers, towards the Presbyterians of Scotland, we have only the following account: p. 303. Dr. Leighton, archbishop of Glasgow, a very meek, learned, and pious man, whose works are read with great delight by those who love the spirit of devotion, was sent by King Charles II. to try to unite the church of Scotland to that of England.' It is easy to perceive, from the manner in which this small volume is composed, the way by which errors and doubtful stories have taken their place in ecclesiastical histories; and it adds one more to the numerous instances in which the cause of truth has failed of receiving efficient support from the haste and mistaken judgement of an author. There is much that we most cordially approve in the present work, but as a whole we are by no means prepared to give it our reccommendation. 武 Art.VIII. An Answer to a Sermon preached, by the Rev. Charles Simeon, M.A. of King's College, Cambridge, at the Church of St. Catha rire Cree, Leadenhali Street, on Wednesday Evening, Dec. 31. 1817; relative to a Question between Jews and Christians. By Benjamin Abrahams, an Israelite. 8vo. pp. 22. WE E cannot perceive that this answer possesses very high claims to our consideration in point of argument, though we are bound to mention with general commendation the respectful and temperate language in which it is drawn up. Its leading object appears to be to dissuade the patrons of the "London Society for promoting Christianity among the Jews," from the prosecution of their purpose. The Author admonishes them to drop the notion of converting Jews: No human power 'on earth can do it--God will not have it.' In this assertion we do not agree with Mr. Abrahams; we expect the conversion of the house of Israel, as an event within the purposes of God, though we are entirely of his opinion that no human being can ⚫ accomplish it. With the London Society we have no connexion; and though we would not have its conductors drop the notion of converting Jews,' we most devoutly wish them a larger share of wisdom than, judging from some parts of their plan and proceedings, they seem to possess. Mr. Abrahams represents Mr. Simeon as being but very imperfectly acquainted with the holy law :' unfortunately, his own knowledge of the Scriptures is exposed to our suspicion, from the strange manner in which he cites the prophetical writings. When he quotes Isa. i. 11. "To what purpose is the multitude "of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord; I am full of the "burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I "delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he"goats,"-in proof that sins were forgiven without sacrifice and blood ;—when he refers to Isa. i. 18. in support of the same assertion, he overlooks the connexion and mistakes the import of those passages. The same remark applies to his quotations from the 40th and 50th Psalms. We would recommend to Mr. Abrahams the investigation of the question, p. 12, Whether the acknowledgement of Jesus as the Messiah, and the reception of the Christian doctrine, would impose upon an Israelite, as of indispensable obligation, the abolition of the law of circumcision, and the profanation of the holy sabbath.' On the whole subject of Christianity we would presume to invite the Author's most serious attention to its evidences and its objects; and in taking leave of him, would just suggest for his consideration, that as the variety of sects among the Jews furnishes no real grounds for impeaching the truth of the Mosiac legislation, so the diversities of Christian profession (p. 21) furnish no solid objections to the truth of Christianity. Art. IX. A Sermon, Preached at the Opening of the Roman Ca tholi Chap 1 of St. Peter, at Cobridge, in the Staffordshire Potteries, on Sunday, April 20, 1817. By the Rev. Robert Richmond, of Caverswall Castle. Svo. pp. 40. 66 THE text of this singular sermon, is Gen. xxviii. 27. “This is no other but the house of God, and the gate of heaven ;”— from which the preacher proposes to explain what particularly 'constitutes a christian church" the house of God, and the gate "of heaven;" and this character he informs us, it derives from the worship of Sacrifice' performed within its walls. ، Though Mr. Richmond assures us that it is neither the form of the building, nor its decorations, which make it the house of God, he appears by no means indifferent to the beauty and magnificence of cathedrals and other churches.' When he therefore remarks, that The riches of the earth have been exhausted, in order to render these edifices more splendid, and more worthy of the Supreme Being,' he furnishes us with something very much in the shape of a contradiction. Before he allowed his pen this liberty, he would have done well had he recollected that "God dwelleth not in temples made with hands,” and that the "Godhead is not like unto gold, or silver, or "stone, graven by art and man's device." According to Mr. Richmond, it is the worship of sacrifice, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ himself upon the cross, continued among Roman Catholics, which gives dignity to a Christian Church, and essentially forms it into the house of God. He assures his brethren that they can never conduct themselves with the reverence due to God's house, unless they well understand the nature of the sacrifice which is offered within its walls. To correct their errors or prevent their mistakes, he therefore proceeds to describe the nature of the Mass and the tenet of Transubstantiation; and in this service he conducts himself as a true son of the Church of Rome, which has long founded its institutions on the maxim, that ignorance is the mother of devotion. The principal proof of the real presence is, Because such is the doctrine of the Catholic Church! So the Author assures us; and so complete, in his view, is this method of arriving at the truth, that he cannot forbear exclaiming-Oh! what a satisfaction it is to know that we are sure of professing the truth, if we are careful to follow the directions of the Catholic Church.' What a felicity it must be to follow, with blinded eyes and darkened minds, the guides provided by wicked Popes and Cardinals, and packed councils of lazy and luxurious or wrangling prelates! Mr. Richmond is probably an intelligent man; but the delusions and mummeries of the Catholic Church,' must be kept up, and he labours in |