Bishop Taylor well observes, acts of direct injustice. The principle for which the Church contends recognizes the utter helplessness of human nature, the absolute impossibility of man saving himself, the necessity of a Divine Redeemer; and what more can be required, even by the Calvinist? On the other hand, it asserts that man may and must co-operate effectually, though not meritoriously, with Christ, in the work of his own salvation; which it commands him, in the words of St. Paul, to work out with fear and trembling."

This is clear enough, and evangelical enough; and that this is the doctrine of our Church, may be shown by the fact that the Calvinistic divines were not satisfied with the nineteenth Article, but wished to make very extensive alterations. We shall give a few of these, in order to show how far their views extended:

NINETEENTH ARTICLE.

"Man is very far gone from his original righteousness,

"And is of his own nature inclined to evil.

"Concupiscence and lust hath

of itself the nature of sin."

CALVINISTIC ALTERATIONS.

"Man is entirely gone away from his original righteousness, "And is of his own nature inclined only to evil.

"Concupiscence and lust is of itself truly and properly sin."

The

We must bring our remarks, however, to a close. second volume of the "Tracts of the Anglican Fathers" consists, as we have seen, of doctrinal tracts, and is prefaced by an essay on the importance of doctrinal truth. Speaking on those memorable words of St. Paul, "Yet he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire," the Tractator has the following words, and with these will we close this article:

"The people who are to be saved, though as by fire, are such as, having obtained remission of sins through the blood of Christ, yet entertain erroneous views of Christian truth in other particulars-men who have sincerely sought for truth, but who, from strong prejudice, or too credulous a spirit, have never apprehended it. Not those who reject any part of God's word because they cannot reconcile it with the rest, or because it is too severe for the lives they lead, and which they are resolved to continue; but who are really sincere, and yet humble in their error. Of such we are told, that " every man's work shall be manifest, for the day that cometh shall declare it; because it shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try every man's work, of what sort it is if any man's work abide which he hath built thereon, he shall receive a reward: if any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, yet he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire." If such as these, then-men who have taken hold on the hope set before them, and who, though erroneous, have been single-minded-are to be saved only as by fire, how great must be the importance of truth in matters of religion! Every true doctrine tends to strengthen the believer in

holy things-to comfort him when faint, to encourage him when tempted; and every error deprives him of some support, of some consolation, of some happy assistance, in his way towards Zion. Man must live by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God; and if, however unintentionally, he throws away any part of this spiritual nutriment, he can never hope to attain to the fulness of the stature of a man in Christ Jesus. If he mix this bread of heaven with the base product of earth, it will but retard his growth in grace; and the only way of becoming fathers in the Church, is to desire earnestly, as babes in Christ, the sincere milk of the word, by which we are nourished to salvation."

ART. II.-Belgium. By J. EMERSON TENNENT, Esq., M.P., Author of "Letters from the Ægean," and "History of Modern Greece." 8vo. 2 vols. London: Richard Bentley. 1841.

THIS is one of the most interesting works of travel we have met with for some time past. It very nearly indeed realizes the idea of what a book of travels ought to be, but what, nevertheless, very few come up to. The reader is not only presented with a great deal of light and amusing information, anecdotes, accounts of celebrated paintings, and other works of art; but, in addition, the author enters largely into details respecting the agriculture, manufactures, public institutions, and political and religious condition of the country which he visits. On some of these subjects he has contrived to throw what, in the eyes of many of his readers, we are inclined to think, will be a new light. We do not hesitate to say that one of the most important-we had almost said, the most important-features in the present work, is the picture of the extraordinary effects produced by the working of the spirit of Popery in Belgium, and the comparison drawn between it and the manifestations of a similar spirit in Ireland. In the dedication of his work to Lord Stanley, the author touches upon this subject in such a manner as to give some promise of what may be expected in the chapters which follow:

"History is philosophy teaching by example;' and it is not to be supposed that there are not, even amongst the zealots for the repeal of the union in Ireland, some few who will be attentive to its lessons. It is chiefly in this anxious hope that I have transcribed the present volumes the more so, too, because Belgium is the one bright example which those who have addressed themselves to unsettle the allegiance of the Irish people have always ostentatiously paraded for their imitation and encouragement. From this selection they cannot now re

treat; and I confidently believe that the exposition contained in the following pages of the condition of that country, after ten years of separation and independence, will exhibit Belgium to Ireland, if as an example at all, only as

'Exemplum vitiis imitabile.""

We shall, however, defer the consideration of this topic until we come to those portions of Mr. Tennent's work in which it is more particularly mentioned. In the meanwhile, we will conduct our readers to other scenes.

Mr. Tennent is particularly successful in describing the cities of the low countries; he gives us their leading features in a very lively and graphic manner, and places before our eyes these cities of the olden time in all their quaint and curious details. Bruges is one of the first of these which occurs. It appears to retain more of its original character than most places, and is, perhaps, the most perfect specimen of a town of the middle ages on this side of the Rhine. The houses have not been rebuilt in modern times, and with their ample porticoes, vast arched entrances, sculptured ornaments, and fantastic gables, are all in keeping with our stately impressions of its feudal counts and affluent and turbulent burghers.

"Instead of the narrow, dingy passages which occur in cities of similar antiquity and renown (says Mr. Tennent), there is an air ресиliarly gay and imposing in the broad and cheerful streets of Bruges; its streets enlivened by long lines of lindens and oriental plane trees, and traversed by canals, not sluggish and stagnant, but flowing with an active current through the city. Upon these the wealthier mansions open to the rear, a little ornamented 'pleasance' separating them from the river, laid out in angular walks, and ornamented with evergreens, clipped en quenouills, and here and there a statue, or an antique vase. The squares maintain the same character of dignity and gravity, overshadowed with old ancestral trees,' and flanked by their municipal halls and towers. The monuments, of a time when Bruges was the Tyre of western Europe, and her counts and citizens combined the enterprize and wealth of the merchant with the fiery bearing of the soldier. These edifices, too, exhibit in their style something of the sturdy pride of their founders, presenting less of ornament and decoration than of domineering height and massive solidity, and striking the visitor rather by their strength than their elegance. On the whole, Bruges reminded me strongly of Pisâ, and some of the towns of northern Italy, whose history and decline are singularly similar to its own. The air of the edifices and buildings is the same, and there is around it a similar appearance of desertion rather than decay; though in Bruges the retirement and solitude which was, till recently, its characteristic, has been much invaded by the concourse of strangers whom the railroad brings hourly to visit it." (Vol. i., p. 15).

From the thirteenth to the close of the sixteenth century, Bruges was at the summit of her power and prosperity. During this period this city became one of the great entrepots where produce of various kinds was collected, and from which it was distributed over western Europe. It was here also that marine insurances were first acted upon in the thirteenth century; and the first exchange for the use of merchants was also built here in the succeeding century. Such was the luxury of the citizens of Bruges at one period, that the wife of Philip the Fair is said to have exclaimed, on finding herself eclipsed in the splendour of her dress by the ladies of her capital, "Je croyais etre ici la seule reinè, mais j'en vois plus de cent autour de moi!" Even in her decline, Bruges wears the air of a reduced aristocracy. Her poor are said to be frightfully numerous, in proportion to her population; but they are not as elsewhere, ostentatiously offensive. "Except a few decrepid objects of compassion, by the door of the cathedral, we did not see a beggar in the streets." The churches in Bruges are remarkable for the matchless sculptures, in wood, which adorn the confessionals and pulpits, for the richness and masterly workmanship of which, indeed, the sacred edifices of the Netherlands appear to be celebrated.

"In the church of Notre Dame the pulpit is a superb work of art of this description, chiselled in oak, supported by groups of figures the size of life, and decorated throughout with arabesques and carvings of flowers and fruit of the most charming execution. It is of vast dimensions for such a work, reaching from the floor almost to the gothic roof of the building. In the same church there are two confessionals of equal elegance, each separated, as usual, into three apartments by partitions, in the front of each of which are caryatides, which support the roof."

Bruges is also rich in paintings, one of the principal collections of which is in the parlour of the chapel of the ancient hospital of St. John: the most celebrated in this collection are the chef-d'œuvres of Hans Hemling. The chief object of interest in this city, according to Mr. Tennent, is the tomb of Mary of Burgundy. The lace manufacture is almost the only one still remaining to Bruges, and the product of this is exported to France, to be sold, under the name of Point de Valenciennes. The exquisitely fine thread which is made in Hainault and Brabant, for the purpose of being worked into lace, has sometimes reached a value almost incredible: 1,000 to 1,500 francs is by no means an unusual price for it per pound; and some has been spun by the hand of so fine a texture, that

it has been sold at the rate of 10,000 francs, or upwards of 4007., for a single pound weight.

Speaking of the road from Bruges to Ghent, Mr. Tennent says:

"One misses, also, the numerous seats and mansions of the landed gentry to which we are familiarized in travelling in our own country— the happy homes of England,' that constitute the rich luxuriance of a British landscape. But here their erection is discountenanced by the law against primogeniture, by which the property of the individual is compulsorily divided amongst his heirs; and, at former periods, their absence may, perhaps, be ascribed to the insecurity of the country, perpetually visited with war and all its accessories, so that men found their only safety within the walls of their fortified towns."

In the description of Ghent, the author introduces some very valuable details respecting the manufactures and commerce of the country. We shall extract his account of an institution called the Conseil de Prud' hommes," at Ghent :

"It is a board formed jointly of employers and workmen, elected by annual sections, and discharging all its functions, not only gratuitously as regards the public, but without payment to its own members, beyond the mere expenditure of the office, and a moderate salary to a secretary. Its duties have reference to the adjustment of the mutual intercourse between workmen and their masters, in every branch of manufacture, the prevention of combinations, the performance of contracts, the regulation of apprenticeship, and the effectual administration of the system of livrets-a species of permanent diploma, which the artisan receives on the termination of his pupilage, signed by the master to whom he had been articled, and sealed by the president of the Conseil de Prud' hommes. Without the production of his livret, no tradesman can be received into employment; and in it are entered all his successive discharges and acquittances with his various masters. The powers of fining and of forfeiture exercised by the Conseil are summary, up to a certain amount; and in cases of graver importance, there is a resort to the correctional police. But the main functions of the Conseil de Prud' hommes are the prevention of any invasion of the peculiar rights of any manufacturer, or the counterfeit imitation of his particular marks; and especially the protection of the copyrights of all designs and productions of art for the decoration of manufactures. With this view, every proprietor of an original design, whether for working in metals or on woven fabrics, is empow ered to deposit a copy of it in the archives of the Council, enveloped in a sealed cover, and signed by himself; and to receive in return a certificate of its enrolment, and the date of reception. At the same time, he is called upon to declare the length of time for which he wishes to secure to himself the exclusive right of its publication, whether for one, two, or three years, or for ever; and in either case á