freedom from the bigotry which too often attends the "no popery 99 cry, and its extended and extending circulation, we augur from this publication very important results. It was our intention to add some remarks on a favourite theory of the author of "From Oxford to Rome," that "the Anglican church is the preparing type of the church of the latter days;' a dream which the earliest dawn of the millennial glory will, we doubt not, dispel; there are also some passages of great beauty and pathos which we had marked for quotation, but our allotted space is occupied. We have only, therefore, to add, in conclusion, our sincere congratulation to the several bodies of evangelical nonconformists, that they touch not even the famous "via media" which forms the passage "From Oxford to Rome," and are not likely to become "companion travellers" to those who are taking that journey; and to express our hope that in their separation from a church which is the nursery of Puseyism, the full growth of which is Romanism, they will stand fast in the liberty where with Christ hath made us free." Since completing the above, which was in the middle of July, we have had an opportunity of reading the preface of the second edition of " From Oxford to Rome." In this the author, while cautiously avoiding the use of any pronoun which would distinguish the writer's sex, declares unequivocally and "sorrowfully," that it is "the actual work of an actual convert ;"-that Eustace was a real character, and, if we understand rightly, some others also ;that Leeds was not the manufacturing town referred to;-and that mistakes have been made in determining the living persons to whom the several characters and circumstances relate. Still there is enough of uncertainty as to what is truth and what is fiction, considerably to weaken the moral force of the intended warning. And nothing in this preface occurs to relieve the glaring inconsistency, the utter absence of principle, as it appears to us, in continuing in the church of Rome after pronouncing such condemnation of its errors, and such lamentations for the rashness and sin with which a purer communion was abandoned. "He that confesseth and forsaketh his sins, shall find mercy." Letter to the Rev. James Pringle, Newcastle, on Baptism. By the Rev. JOHN ROBERTSON, A.M., Wallsend. Newcastle : Barkas. 12mo. pp. 16. THE author of this tract was sometime ago a respected minister of the Secession Church, stationed at Walker, near Newcastle; and its object is to give an account of the mental process by which he was led to resign his charge, and seek the fellowship of baptists. Whether it has been published in London or not we do not know, but a few extracts will gratify some of our readers we are sure, and perhaps occasion a demand for it in parts of the country remote from that in which Mr. Robertson resides. For several years, it seems, he had thought much respecting the baptism of infants, and read many works on the subject, which instead of relieving increased his perplexity. The reasons which parents assigned for wishing him to perform the rite were unsatisfactory; and the arguments of its advocates were in his view inconBut the sistent and contradictory. story will be told best in his own words. ་ "Infant baptism I have defended both in public and in private; and as very few parents in Secession, and I presume in other churches, can answer this question (and no wonder when reasons so different and opposite are assigned by our public teachers), what warrant from scripture have I for baptizing your children? I thought that it was necessary to preach repeatedly on infant baptism, not only in my own church, but also in other churches, in order that the baptism of infants might really be a rational service. The following are the answers which are generally given to this question, You wish your child baptized, will you state to me your reasons.' 'O sir, it is a customary thing; the child is dying, we would not get the box money (30s.); if not christened, the priest will not bury the child; why, baptism, you know, saves and regenerates children; I want a name to my child; children were circumcised, and therefore children should be baptized. The word says, the infants of members of the visible church are to be baptized.' We might enlarge this catalogue of foolish answers. Never, in a single instance, either in Scotland, or in England, did I ever hear of the Abrahamic covenant. It is really mortifying to think that, notwithstanding all our talk about that covenant, the argument deduced from it is really an argument that our people do not comprehend; you can scarcely read two divines who have precisely the same views of infant baptism. Among pædobaptists there is the greatest confusion, both of thought and language; and if the views of our theologians be so indefinite and perplexed, what can we expect from the taught? There is a simplicity about the baptist view, which must recommend it to every candid mind; the doctrine, he that believeth, and is baptized, lies at the threshold of our common Christianity."-Page 5. the Christian religion; and, secondly, certain prescribed exercises, immediately before the administration of the sacred rite. Subscription to the creed seems also to have been required, In the church, special prayer was offered for the competents, or candidates, for baptism. Look, now, we beseech you, upon those persons soon to be baptized; bless them and sanctify them, and make them worthy to partake of thy spiritual gifts.' No further trace of this prayer is found in the works of Chrysostom, or any other ecclesiastical writer; a circumstance which, perhaps, admits of an easy explanation, when we consider the changes that arose in consequence of the continually increasing prevalence of infant baptism. Those who were baptized received certain names; the faithful or believers, the enlightened, the initiated, the perfect, the brethren, the elect. So soon as they were baptized they were admitted to the ordinance of the supper, and to take part in all the public transactions of the church. The origin of sponsors has been traced by some writers to Judaism, and by others to those of the Roman civil law. Mr. Riddle, a churchman, and an Oxford divine, traces the custom to an institute of the Roman law; hence it had a pagan origin.' Much more might be quoted from those writers, who are not baptists. The learned Salmasius, and Suicer, had similar views respecting this subject; and our great Sir Isaac Newton frequently declared to Whiston his conviction "Rome was not built in a day; and it was the work of centuries before that saints' days, confirmation, consecration, and infant baptism, were fully established. I have come to this conclusion, not from reading the writings of baptists, but from reading the works, and fragments of the works of such celebrated men as Augusti, Siègel, Jacobi, Neander, and Riddle. Their testimony is exceedingly valuable, as they are men so conversant in the antiquities and ancient history of the church. Both Neander and Jacobi baptize infants; yet what have they published respecting their baptism? 'Infant baptism was established neither by Christ nor the apostles. In all places where we find the necessity of baptism notified, it is evident that it was only meant for those who were capable of comprehending the word preached, and who were converted to Christ. A pretty sure testimony of its non-existence in the apostolic age may be inferred from 1 Cor. vii. 14, since Paul would certainly have referred to the baptism of children for their holiness.''that the baptists were the only Christians Causes are next assigned for the introduction of who had not symbolised with the church of baptism at a very early period. See article on Rome.'"-Pp. 9, 10. baptism in Kitto's Cyclopædia. It would also appear that among those learned and pious Germans, very few are now found who attempt to defend infant baptism. They view it as indefensible. From the writings of those men, we make the following extracts:-'In the early centuries of the church, the candidates for baptism underwent a course of religious instruction and preparation. There does not appear to have been any fixed age at which persons were eligible as catechumens, nor was there any uniform rule respecting the duration of the term of their instruction. The term of probation appears to have extended sometimes to two or three years; but, in many cases, it was reduced to a much shorter compass; and it seems to have been understood that the children of Christian parents required less preparatory instruction than Jewish converts; and the Jewish converts, in like manner, less than the heathen. Baptism was always preceded by solemn preparation. The preparation was twofold, consisting of, first, a course of catechetical instruction in the leading doctrines of "Since writing the above, I have read the work of the learned Hagenbach, who is not a baptist. Hagenbach is professor of theology in the University of Basle, and belongs to the orthodox school in Germany. He enjoys a high and deserved reputation in his own country as a theological writer. All professions,' remarks Dr. Channing, tend to narrow and obscure the intellect; and none more than that of a minister.' Hagenbach is an exception, for his book seems to be written under the influence of the same principle that guided Heeren of Goettingen in writing his history of the ancient nations. In no part of my work,' says Heeren, have I any hypothesis to establish; any darling proposition to support; or any opponent to refute. Upon every occasion I have stated that which I have found; and stated it just as I have found it: the certain as certain; the probable as merely probable.' On the subject of baptism Hagenbach thus writes, 'Infant baptism had not come into general use prior to the time of Tertullian. The passages from scripture which are thought to intimate that infant baptism had come into use in the primitive church, are doubtful, and prove nothing. Nor does the earliest passage occurring in the writings of the fathers (Irenæus) afford any decisive proof. It only expresses the beautiful idea that Jesus was redeemer in every stage of life; but it does not say that he redeemed children by the water of baptism; unless the term renasci be interpreted by the most arbitrary petitio principii to refer to baptism.' A considerable time after this period, Cyprian maintained that infants should be baptized, because they were innocent; and as we do not hesitate to salute the new born, yet innocent babe with a kiss, so we should not raise any objection to his being baptized."-Page 11. "Dr. Halley, one of the ablest advocates for the baptism of infants, is quite opposed to your views, and to the usual mode of reasoning on this subject. Richard Baxter remarks that he had many opponents, but he seldom replied to their arguments, as one class of his opponents generally refuted the other class. The Calvinists defended him against the Arminians, because he believed in the doctrine of election; and the Arminians defended him against the Calvinists, because he believed that Christ died for all men. Something similar is constantly occurring in the baptist controversy. Dr. Halley refutes Dr. Wardlaw, and Dr. Wardlaw refutes Dr. Halley. Albert Barnes refutes them both. The baptists may therefore rest on their oars; for other parties are now doing their work, by advocating most powerfully their cause — presbyterians, independents, and, above all, the learned German divines."-Page 13. "I am astonished at the prejudice excited against me since I became a baptist. On the platform, in the pulpit, and I may say everywhere else, we hear much respecting conscience -the right of private judgment-yielding to the dictates of conscience-what is not of faith is sin-let every man be persuaded in his own mind. Now, so far as I know my own mind I have acted conscientiously. I should have been free from much trouble and anxiety had I still been a pædobaptist, or a sprinkler of babes."-Page 14. When Mr. Robertson found that he could obtain no resolution of his doubts from the printed books with which he was acquainted, he wrote to some eminent predobaptist theologians, inquiring whether in their judgment the statements of Hagenbach, Geisler, and others, rested on a proper historic basis. They could not impugn the statements, though they demurred to the correctness of his deductions from them. The result is that he has been baptized, and that he is ministering temporarily to the baptist church at Middleton Teesdale, Durham. There, or wherever he may be called in divine providence to labour, we cordially wish him success. BRIEF NOTICES. The Chronological Scripture Atlas: containing a Complete Series of Maps, elucidatory of the Sacred History, illustrating also the Principal Epochs in the Ecclesiastical History of Christendom, and the condition of the Holy Land from the Earliest Ages to the Present Day: an Elaborate Chart of General History, with a Comparative Index and Concordance of all the Scripture Occurrences of the places. London: Bagster and Sons. Small quarto, half-bound in roan. It is not easy to conceive of a work of the same size that would render more essential service than this to a student of biblical and ecclesiastical history. The idea of an atlas presenting Palestine to the eye at successive eras is not new, but it has never before been wrought out so completely, and exhibited in conjunction with so many valuable and congenial accompaniments. The contents of this elegant volume are a Map of Canaan in the Patriarchal Times, exhibiting the localities of the nations at the period immediately preceding the conquest by Joshua-the Peninsula of Sinai, with part of Egypt, illustrating the history of Israel from the Exodus to the entrance into the Promised Land-Canaan as divided among the Tribes, illustrating the period from Joshua to the death of Saul-the Hebrew kingdom under Solomon-the kingdom of Judah in the days of Rehoboam and his successors Assyria and the adjacent countries, illustrating the successive captivities-Palestine at the commencement of the Christian Era-a Plan of Jerusalem and the region around it-the Countries near the Mediterranean, referred to in the Acts of the Apostlesa Comparative View of the Ancient Persian and Roman Empires Christendom at the Rise of Mohammedanism-Christendom during the Crusades-Medieval Palestine, showing the sites of the principal events of the Cru sades-Modern Palestine-and an admirable Table of Comparative Chronology, from the Creation to the year 400 of the Christian Era. Every thing is deduced from the best au- that this work will obtain an exetnsive circuthorities, and executed in the first style. Ex-lation. planatory letter-press accompanies every map, and a full Geographical Index, with scriptural references, and the classical and modern appellations of the places mentioned, as far as they have been ascertained, crowns the whole. To every family in which the Scriptures are read or general history is studied, we recommend this atlas very earnestly. The Protector: a Vindication. By J. H. MERLE D'AUBIGNE, D.D. 8vo. pp. 379. Price 9s. cloth. The eloquent foreign historian whose volumes on the Reformation of the Sixteenth Century have been so acceptable to British Christians, having been struck with the light thrown on the character of Cromwell by documents which have issued from the press during the last few years, especially by his Letters and Speeches edited by Mr. Thomas Carlyle, has thought that the importance of making these facts known on the continent was sufficient to justify him in suspending his attention to his great work, in order to lay this before the public. He has felt himself compelled to acknowledge that the character hitherto attached to this great man is one of the grossest falsehoods in all history. Charles the second, he observes, who succeeded Oliver after Richard's short protectorate; this monarch's courtiers, not less immoral, but still more prepossessed than himself; the writers and statesmen too of this epoch,-all of them united in misrepresenting his memory: the wicked followers of the Stuarts and the adherents of the papacy in general having uniformly and perseveringly set themselves to blacken his reputation. Cromwell having been during the season of his power, the protector of European, and in particular, of French Protestantism, and the author being a descendant from Huguenot refugees, it seemed to him that he has a debt to pay to that illustrious man, which he could best discharge by presenting to the world a sketch of his life, illustrated by extracts from his letters. The author does not indeed approve of every thing that Cromwell said or did: he traces his errors to two prominent causes. The first was his assuming for the mainspring of his actions those inward impulses which he ascribed to God, in preference to the explicit commands of the Holy Scriptures. Being a believer in what has been denominated "a particular faith," if while engaged in prayer, or immediately after, he felt a lively conviction in his mind, he thought that this impression proceeded immediately from heaven, and that he ought to follow it as the very voice of God. The second was that "he shared in the error which the papacy had held during the middle ages, and which most of the Reformers entertained during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. He did not make a sufficient distinction between the old and the new covenant, between the Old and the New Testament. He thought that a Christian, and particularly a public man, ought to seek his rules of conduct in the Hebrew theocracy."-The popularity of the author's name, the liveliness of his style, and the soundness of his principles, lead us to hope On Dreams, in their Mental and Moral As pects, as affording Auxiliary Arguments for the Existence of Spirit, for a "Separate State," and for a Particular Providence. In Two Essays. By JOHN SHEPPARD, Author of Thoughts on Devotion, &c. fe London: pp. xxiv. 178. Price 2s. 6d. respected author's previous publications, it can To persons who are acquainted with the be scarcely necessary to say that this is an interesting and instructive volume. The nature of the subject required that pertinent facts should be collected with care, and deductions drawn from them cautiously; and Mr. Sheppard is never heedless or dogmatical. After adverting to the opinions on dreaming that have been entertained by some ancients and moderns, he offers proofs of the rapidity of thought in dreams, and of the mental power and inventiveness often evinced in them; and inquires into the probable manner of the soul's acting, both in sleep and in the intermediate state. He argues that "there has been an important design of Providence in rendering dreams a part of the human constitution and experience: since they have conduced to infuse in the absence of revealed truth, or in aid of traditional and obscure disclosures, and even in support of historical revelation, which so many are disposed to neglect or repudiate-the sense of a spiritual and prescient power, and of a future life; those great sanctions of moral obligation." While he discourages a fanciful and superstitious misuse of dreams, he vindicates the opinion that some have been ordered for important ends by the providence of the Supreme Ruler. He does not however, advert to one use which may be made of dreams, that appears to us to be very direct and important the insight they may yield to us into our own true character and prevailing propensities, We are persuaded that the heart is always true to itself in sleep, however vagrant the imagina tion, and however erroneous the judgment. It is possible for a benevolent man to dream that he sees a neighbour writhing in agony but it is not possible for him to dream that he is delighted with the scene, and wishes the torment to continue. It is possible to dream that a beloved relative is dead-nay, that our own hand bas slain him: but it is not possible in the dream to rejoice that he is murdered. On this principle, we conceive that the answer of Solomon, in his dream at Gibeon, was as good evidence of his supreme desire for wisdom, as the same answer would have been if given in his waking moments. Thus, from what passes in our dreams, we may often learn valuable lessons of humiliation and caution, for, whatever evil propensities we find to be strong in our sleeping hours, we may be sure that we need to watch and pray against in the day. The Life and Times of Menno, the Reformer. By the Rev. J. NEWTON BROWN. Aberdeen: Murdoch. 32mo. pp. 32. About three hundred and fifteen years ago, Simon Menno, a young Romish priest, hearing that a devout man had been beheaded in a neighbouring city for being re-baptized, examined the scriptures with diligence, in order to ascertain the authority for infant baptism, but could find none. He consulted his superior, who acknowledged that infant baptism had no foundation in the scriptures. He referred to ancient authors, who taught him that children must by baptism be washed from their original sin. He went to Luther, who told him that children must be baptized on their own faith, because they are holy. He went to Bucer, who said that we must baptize them, the more diligently to take care of them, and bring them up in the ways of the Lord. He had recourse to Bullinger, who pointed him to the covenant of circumcision. None of these representations satisfied him; and seeing that these eminent men assigned such different reasons for the practice, each following his own reason, "I saw clearly," said he, "that we were deceived with infant baptism." At a time when every baptist was an outlaw in every state in Europe, Menno travelled from one country to another, in the midst of dangers and hardships, preaching the kingdom of God with remarkable success, and after pursuing this course five and twenty years, died in peace, in 1561, at the house of a nobleman, who, "moved with compassion at the sight of the snares daily laid for his life, generously took him and several of his brethren under his protection." This little tract may be circulated very advantageously in our churches, as well as among those who are unacquainted with our principles. It directs attention in a pleasant manner to several topics of great importance. The Sunday School. An Essay. In Three Parts. By LOUISA DAVIDS. London: S. S. U. 12mo. pp. ix., 382. Price 4s. 6d. About two years ago the Sunday School Union of London, in concert with the Manchester Sunday School Union, offered a premium of One Hundred Pounds for the best book of Practical Instruction for Sunday School Teachers. The prize was awarded to the lady whose name is prefixed to this volume. With her, exclusively, the preface informs us, the responsibility of the sentiments contained in it rests: "The Committee of the Sunday School Union have published it, as being, in their judgment, the best of those submitted to their examination; but it must stand or fall by its own merits." Among the opinions adVocated are these:-that the design of Sunday Schools-their "sole aim"-is the conversion of the children, "the bringing in of babes to the fold of the Redeemer ;"-that, "in the present day, no pastor can rightly keep his children away from the school, for if deprived of training there, they grow up to be thorns in his side;"-that all the young people in the congregation, irrespective of age or station, ought to be found connected with the sabbath school as scholars ;"-" that the practice of taking children to public worship" should "be entirely abandoned by all parents and in all schools;"-that "it is pleasing to find a Government Inspector drawing public attention to this subject"-the inexpediency of the attendance of children at public worship;-that "catechisms VOL. X.-FOURTH SERIES. give a short, simple, and connected view of Chris tian doctrines, and in no other way can they be so thoroughly brought out;"-that in cases of misconduct at public worship, "a few strokes with a cane inflicted on the hand of every naughty child, immediately after the conclusion of the service, will effect a material change for the better;"-and that in some other cases, when every thing else fails, corporeal punishment is often useful-"calm, deliberate flogging, so severely inflicted as to make a child really suffer." Much good feeling is evinced by the writer, and many of her suggestions for the improvement of sabbath schools deserve the serious consideration of their managers; but we do not think the book adapted to the guidance of teachers generally, and we should have been very sorry if it had come forth from the Committee of the Sunday School Union, as a compendium of opinions which they had sanctioned. Ministerial Record: or Brief Account of the Great Progress of Religion under the ministry of the Rev. W. Williams, of Pantycelyn, Carmarthenshire. By the Rev. E. MORGAN, A.M., Vicar of Syston, Leicestershire. London: Hughes. 12mo. pp. 172. Had Mr. Williams done nothing more than compose the beautiful hymn beginning “Guide me, O thou great Jehovah," he would have deserved a much more costly memorial than this little book. He was born it seems in 1717. He wrote many hymns in the Welsh language, which were greatly conducive to the extension of true religion in the principality, and, at the request of Lady Huntingdon, he produced a small book of hymns in the English language, entitled “Gloria in Excelsis," one of which was the popular hymn, "O'er the gloomy hills of darkness." Eight of his compositions are died January 11, 1791, aged seventy-four years. in the countess of Huntingdon's collection. He The Fruits of the Spirit. By the Rev. WILLIAM HENRY ELLIOTT, Ebenezer Chapel, Shoreditch, London. London: Ward and Co. 24mo. pp. 102. There is nothing at which it is more legitimate for a Christian pastor to aim strenuously and constantly, than to cultivate in his flock those characteristics of genuine religion which the apostle Paul denominates " the fruits of the Spirit." Mr. Elliott treats of them one by one in this small volume, in a manner that will render it acceptable and useful undoubtedly, not only to his own congregation, but in a much more extensive circle. Scriptural Epitaphs. London Smith and Elder. 16mo. pp. 108. Though the cemeteries of dissenters do not afford such exquisite specimens of the ludicrous as are commonly to be found in country churchyards, some of our readers may be assisted in the choice of mottoes for the gravestones of departed relatives, by this collection of appropriate texts. It may also be useful in suggesting to ministers suitable topics for funeral discourses. A Paraphrase and Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews: with Treatises on the Me4 D |