Christian's Life a Life of Faith; The Christian's Life a Growth in Grace; Christian Retirement; God's Mercies and Man's Ingratitude; Lukewarmness in Religion; The Awfulness of Sudden Death; Importance of Often Receiving the Holy Eucharist; Danger of Inattention to any Means of Grace; Dangers and Hopes of the Times, &c.

The Temporal Punishment of Sin, is the subject of three sermons at the beginning of the volume. We do not think that these sermons are amongst the best which it contains; but they are very thoughtful and ingenious, as well as practical. The object is to prove that temporal evils always result from sin by God's providence and appointment; and this is shown by a reference to experience, and to the examples of temporal penalties under the Old Testament. In reply to the objection that gross sinners are often apparently prosperous and happy, we have the following remarks:

"You may observe, in the first place, that the objection is simply a begging of the whole question, inasmuch as it takes it for granted, that the wicked who do not appear to suffer from the penal consequences of their sins do not in reality do so. This then I think is a great deal more than experience and observation warrant us in supposing, for surely there can be no doubt that the mirthful laugh of the wicked man often hides an aching heart, and is merely put on as a part of the gay exterior with which he deceives his fellow-creatures. . . But then pass on from this view of the subject, and even grant that the unhappy victim of sin and vanity has at last succeeded in hardening his heart into a state of insensibility, so that he is not capable of feeling any remorse or sorrow because of sin. . . . . Is he never disappointed, because he cannot sin oftener and more deeply? Is he at no time afflicted with sickness or disease of any kind? Do not his sins occasionally at least find him out in some of these ways.”—pp. 22, 23.

The last sermon "on the dangers and hopes of the times," dwells with great force and power on the evils resulting from Calvinistic and Antinomian teaching. On the whole, we have been much gratified by all that we have seen of this volume of

sermons.

IX.-Spain, Tangier, &c., visited in 1840 and 1841. By X. Y. Z. London: Samuel Clarke.

THE editor of this volume has taken the somewhat unusual step of publishing it without the knowledge of the author, "who has been kept ignorant of the editor's intention to publish." We cannot help suspecting also that the editor has taken the further liberty of inserting sundry pages on the claims of the Irish Romanists, and the propriety of endowing their clergy; Mr. Pitt's VOL. III.-NO, VI.—JUNE, 1845.

plan, &c.; which sound to us very much as if they had been written in the spring of 1845; and which are not very likely to have occurred to a traveller in Spain in 1840. Altogether this seems to us rather an odd transaction, and we think that the editor has shown some discretion in concealing his own name as well as that of the author.

The tour commences with an excursion in the Pyrenees, which is rather well told. We extract the following description of the view from the Pic du Midi de Bigorre, at an elevation of 10,000 feet above the level of the sea:

"We left Luz at ten o'clock at night, and made the ascent by moonlight, in order to be on the summit at sunrise. It would be idle to attempt a description of all the glorious things,-of earth, of air, of sky, which strike the eye from this spot, at this hour. The rugged crumbling tops immediately around; the distant and grand central chain, with its sheets of snow, whitening, as age does among men, their more ancient, hoary heads; the immense expanse of plain on the opposite side, 8000 feet below you, fading away into distance; the glowing belt of crimson on the horizon; then, the splendid sun himself, bursting upon the world, as he can be seen to do only from a height like this; the white clouds rolling themselves into a fleecy sea under your feet, leaving glimpses of the chequered shining fields far, far beneath; the successive lighting up of the surrounding mountain-tops, till all at last reposes and basks in the glorious sunshine-it is impossible for words to convey the faintest idea of the beauty and grandeur of such a scene."-pp. 8, 9.

We are next landed in Madrid, whence our author diverges into an account of his travels to that renowned capital, including a description of the Spanish diligence with its guard and muleteer, the latter individual being in charge of five brace of mules attached to the roomy vehicle. As these animals are without reins, it is lucky that the road runs through plains all the way to Madrid. The country is not very pleasing: "trees there are none-not a twig:" there is a general prejudice against

them.

The want of population is extraordinary; "we often went twenty miles without meeting one living or moving thing! Vehicles of any kind are still rarer; I might almost say, nonexistent." The accommodation at the Spanish posada or inn is far from satisfactory, if we may judge from the account of its sleeping apparatus.

"Mattress indeed I am wrong to call it: it is a sack, containing a due number of lumps of wool, which you may commodiously arrange through a slit in the upper surface, left for the purpose; and on which,

if you can sleep on a bag of potatoes, you may get as much of a night's rest as the battalions of voltigeurs in attendance upon your couch will permit. After a night spent as mine was at Fresnillo, under the discipline of these same light troops, I could readily understand how the united efforts of the myriads of Lilliputians would succeed in chaining great Gulliver on his back; though, indeed, the united efforts of my voltigeurs had a very opposite, but an equally powerful effect upon me; their reiterated and persevering attacks, first on one spot, then on another, exciting me to the performance of a succession of gymnastic exercises, such as I never went through before, and hope never to execute again."-pp. 30, 31.

The description of Madrid is spirited and effective. The author digresses to the subject of Monasticism, which he considers to be gone, probably for ever, in Spain.

"From all I have learned here, I fear that the idea we had formed in England of the immoral lives of the monks in this country (the very antipodes of the monks in Ireland), so far from being exaggerated, fell very far short of the mark. I wish very sincerely it were not so; and I should be sorry to pain any of my many and dear Catholic friends by statements which they may wish untrue, perhaps more earnestly than I do; but if I were speaking to them even, instead of writing to you, I could not consent to suppress or garble the truth. I came here strongly impressed with the belief that, through the reports of (as I fancied) prejudiced relators, we were in the habit of heaping much undeserved censure on the shoulders of these men: and (loving truth and justice better than any preconceived opinion) I determined to let no prejudice on my part which might be opposed to their institution interfere with my acknowledgment, if truth should allow it, of their individual inculpability. When, however, I began to hear Spaniards speak on the subject, I found that my spirit of indulgence was quite misplaced. The description they give of the evil these regulars were in the country, is far more highly coloured than any I have heard in heretic lands; and it is given alike by true and sincere Catholics as by those who are such merely in name. There does not appear to be even an attempt at denial, either of the undisguised irregularities of vast numbers of the monks; their frequent misguidance and corruption of the weaker half of their flocks; their unendurable interference in private families, too often producing in them discord and ill-blood; or of the enormous expense they were to the country, and of their entire uselessness-unless the feeding, and therefore the calling into existence, of hosts of lazy, vicious beggars (for such they are looked upon here) be considered a service. The Spaniards seem, one and all, as far as I have been able to judge (the secular clergy themselves by no means excepted), to hate the very name of monk; and the bitterness with which almost all persons speak above all of the meddling in the domestic circle, and the destruction of innocence and unity there, so frequently caused by the regulars, speaks volumes in proof of the pernicious influence they exercised."-pp. 47-49.

It appears that there are complaints also in Spain of the irregular lives of many of the secular clergy, but not in the same degree. The descriptions of Spanish society and manners throughout this volume are very graphic and amusing. The author gives some pleasant details of his adventures on the road to Seville, in the course of which he has the satisfaction of sticking in the mud on one occasion for nine hours; and on another, of being left in the lurch by his whole team of mules to enjoy a chorus of frogs "croaking as if King Log had come amongst them again." We cannot follow our author any further in his tour to Cordova, Seville, with its splendid cathedral, which he describes with enthusiasm, Tangier, Granada, Gibraltar, &c.; but we can assure the reader that he will derive considerable amusement from the perusal of the whole work.

x.-Feasts and Fasts. An Essay on the rise, progress, and present State of the Laws relating to Sundays, and other Holidays, &c. By EDWARD VANSITTART NEALE, Esq., of Lincoln's Inn, Barrister at Law. London: Murray.

We

A VERY carefully drawn up digest of the laws and canons bearing on the observance of holidays and Sundays by the Church and the courts of law. A great body of very curious and valuable information is brought together by Mr. Neale on this subject. sincerely rejoice to see so much industry and care bestowed on a question of considerable importance. The collection of all the enactments of the Christian Emperors and ancient Councils for the observance of Sunday is very useful, and will, we doubt not, be appealed to in any future discussions which may take place in reference to that subject.

XI.-The Lives of Dr. Donne, &c. By IZAAK WALTON. London: Washbourne.

THIS edition of Walton's Lives is very elegantly printed, and embellished with several engravings and numerous wood-cuts exceedingly well executed. We think the decorations of the page of fac-similes of handwritings in very bad taste, and recommend its exclusion from the volume.

XII.-A History of England under the Anglo-Saxon Kings, translated from the German of Lappenberg. By BENJAMIN THORPE, F.S.A. In 2 vols. 8vo. London: Murray.

THIS work appears to us, from what we have seen of it, to be amongst the most elaborate and carefully-written histories of the Anglo-Saxons that it has been our lot to meet with. Mr. Thorpe,

whose lore as an Anglo-Saxon scholar is so well known, has made considerable additions and improvements of his own in the present translation, and has also received from the author much additional matter. It would seem that one of the peculiar advantages enjoyed by Dr. Lappenberg in the composition of this work, is his familiarity with old Teutonic literature, which has enabled him to throw light on the German portion of Anglo-Saxon history. There is a valuable literary introduction, in which all the authorities and sources for the early English history, including the Welsh and Irish authorities, are elaborately discussed; together with criticisms on the modern histories of England. This work demands a much more lengthened examination than we can at present afford to it; but we can safely recommend it to the notice and attention of all who are interested in the Anglo-Saxon history.

XIII.-The Churchman's Theological Dictionary. By the Rev. ROBERT EDEN, M.A., &c. London: Parker.

THIS work appears from the preface to be intended as a kind of rival to Dr. Hook's Theological Dictionary. We cannot recommend a work which disputes the necessity of episcopal ordination to a true apostolical succession in the ministry. There is much in its pages which savours of an unsound and latitudinarian theology, and we therefore deem it unfit for the use of Church

men.

XIV.-The Apostolical Christians, or Catholic Church of Germany, &c. Edited by HENRY SMITH, Esq. With a recommendatory Preface, by the Rev. W. GOODE. London: Wertheim.

THIS little volume is, we think, very well deserving of perusal by all who are interested in the present striking movement in the Roman Catholic Church in Germany. Mr. Goode and the author of the work very justly observe, that the movement so far has been chiefly negative in its character, and that as yet the doctrines of Christianity and of the Reformation have not been much developed. It is sufficiently evident that the movement is not insignificant; and that it is by no means deficient in earnestness and zeal. We apprehend that Ronge, who seems to be the principal leader, is actuated quite as much by a desire for liberty of thought and action, as by zeal for the apostolic truth. Many of his positions cannot be approved; and we greatly regret to observe that he has taken upon himself to ordain clergy for the new community. Application it seems had been made to the Jansenist archbishop of Utrecht for ordination, but we fear that