7

Notices of New Publications.

incident, that the youthful mind cannot fail | fullest extent. The respectable trans both to be interested and improved by it.

ORIENTAL OBSERVATIONS AND OCCASIONAL
CRITICISMS, more or less illustrating several
hundred Passages of Scripture. By John
Callaway, late Missionary in Ceylon. Holds-
worth. Price 3s. boards.

The Bible is an Oriental book, and every
European and every American needs light
from the East, to elucidate the opinions, laws,
customs, manners, and ceremonies, to which
there are numberless allusions in the sacred
volume. We are indebted to Mr. C. for a
large portion of valuable information in a con-
densed form. It reminds us of good old Tho-
mas Fuller's exclamation-"Oh, what a feast
of knowledge will it make, when both Jew and
Gentile shall jointly bring in their dishes there-
unto; the former furnishing the first course,
with many Hebrew criticisms and Rabbinical
traditions (some of them gold among mere
dross) on the Old Testament; the latter sup-
plying the second course, on the whole Scrip-
ture, with solid interpretations out of fathers,
schoolmen, and modern divines. Oh, happy
day for such as shall behold it! and we all
ought to pray for the speedy dawning thereof."
-Pisgah Sight of Palestine, p. 201. edit. 1662.

APOLOGY FOR THE MODERN THEOLOGY OF
PROTESTANT GERMANY; or, A Review of the
Work, entitled, "The State of the Protestant
Religion in Germany, in a Series of Dis-
courses preached before the University of
Cambridge, by the Rev. Hugh James Rose,
M.A." By Dr. Karl Gottlieb Bretschneider,
Chief Counsellor of the Consistory, and Su-
perintendent General at Gotha. Translated
from the German by the Rev. William Alleyn
Evanson, M. A., Lecturer of St. Luke's, Old
Street, London. 8vo. pp. 88. 3s.

The apostasy of a large body of the Lutheran
Ministers in Germany from the truth, and their.
adoption of sentiments subversive of all that is
peculiar and vital in Christianity, are facts
which are well known and deeply regretted by
sincere Protestants throughout Europe. The
irreverent manner in which they have treated
the Holy Scriptures, and the speculations in
which they have indulged on the subject of
religion, have driven several Protestants to the
Church of Rome, and others into scepticism
and infidelity; and in many places have occa-
sioned an almost total neglect of even the
forms of Christianity. These facts are verified
and accounted for, with great ability and re-
search, by Mr. Rose in his Discourses, which
contain a seasonable admonition to the learned
body before whom they were preached, and es-
pecially to the Theological Students in a
course of preparation for the ministry. Bret-
schneider, who is one of the German Liberales
in theology, and a most accomal

has undertal

Bretschneider, disclaims all sympath learned antagonist, in the Christian R him in his heterodox opinions. Mr. R brancer for October and November last. inserted an able and temperate reply

AN EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF PSALMS planatory, Critical, and Devotional. tended chiefly to aid Private Christia the Enlightened Perusal of Composition which the National History of the Jews the Personal Experience of David, are blended with the Spirit of Prophecy. John Morison, Author of an Part of the Epistle to the Colossians;" "Lectures on the Reciprocal Obligations Exposition Life." Part First. 8vo. pp. 176. 4s.

in successive parts, and to form two handson This is the commencement of a work of co siderable importance, intended to be publish piety of the Author. To each Psalm are pre volumes. The plan is good, and the executio thus far is highly creditable to the talents an whole. They refer to the author of the Psalm fixed introductory remarks, occasionally o and the subjects of which it treats. Each some length, which serve as a key to the the circumstances under which it was written, and at the same time is of a devotional characverse is succeeded by an exposition, which aims to give the sense of the inspired writer; judicious, are not very numerous. They are partly original, and partly selected from the ter. The critical notes, which are concise and best writers, and are placed at the bottom of the page; so that they offer no interruption to the unlearned reader. The author's sentithe peculiarities of his creed, the work will be ments are those of a moderate Calvinist; but as he has not given particular prominence to generally acceptable to evangelical Christians. It is well adapted to family reading, and to the

use of the closet.

THE PARENT'S MONITOR; or, Narratives, An-
ecdotes, and Observations on Religious Edu-
cation and Personal Piety: designed for the
Instruction and Encouragement of Parents,
Guardians, and Teachers. In Three Parts.
By David Barker. pp. 380. Second Edition.
R. Baynes.

crimination and care, gathered a greater mass
The pious and laborious compiler of this
most useful volume has, with no ordinary dis-
of most excellent and almost invaluable matter
than we ever remember to have seen in a
large) was called for by the public in a few
compass so limited.
that the first edition (which we understand was
We are not surprised
months. It is impossible to express
much cordiality

RELIGIOUS MAGAZINE,

OR

SPIRIT OF THE FOREIGN THEOLOGICAL JOURNALS AND REVIEWS.

APRIL, 1828.

From the Christian Observer.
MEMOIR OF MARTIN BOS.

I SEND you a memoir of Martin Bos, the
Protestant Catholic, which I think will greatly
interest many of your readers. The life of
Bos has been written by Gossner, who, like
him, has suffered much persecution for the
cause of Christ. It contains a number of let-
ters written at different periods of his life; and
it well merits to be translated into English.
Gossner has it also in contemplation to publish
a volume of Bos's sermons. The following
narrative is translated from an account of Bos
which has since appeared in a French Protes-
tant publication, the "Archives du Christian-
isme." There may possibly be in it a few ex-
pressions which may appear to some readers
open to the charge of mysticism, or at least of
not being altogether clear or judicious; but the
whole narrative is replete with interest, and
every true Christian, every Protestant espe-
cially, must rejoice to find in the very pre-
cincts of the Church of Rome such powerful
attestations to the great Scripture doctrines of
the corruption and spiritual inability of man, of
free justification solely by faith in Christ, and
of the necessity of the converting and sancti-
fying influences of the Holy Spirit. F. C.

Germany is, perhaps, that country in which, of all others, Roman Catholic Christians are most engaged in religious discussion. There is at present amongst them a spirit, widely in operation, which has for its object to free religion from all alloy, and to restore it to that primitive purity which it once enjoyed. Numerous conversions to Protestantism have in some places attested this spirit of religious inquiry; but there are a much greater number of places in which the necessity of modifying external forms has not been felt, and where the fruit of true piety has been developed without having burst the outward shell in which it was concealed. External forms are more or less favourable, more or less contrary to truth and piety. The necessity of changing them, and of giving to interior sentiments or articles of faith a nam

rived at the true liberty of the children of God, do nevertheless consent to submit to ancient their convictions and religious temperament; practices and usages, which they have learnt in a word, to restore them to that emblematito spiritualize, and to make harmonize with cal signification which they perhaps were in significant ceremonies, which reduce the sermost instances intended to convey, before they vice of God to exterior and corporeal obserhad become, by gross errors, mournful and invances, and in which those faculties of the soul the most calculated to glorify the Almighty have no part. It is not the object of the present remarks to discuss whether it would not be better entirely and openly to reject all this in Germany a multitude of Christians, of the fabric of pretended acts of devotion; but merely to establish one fact-namely, that there exists guished from others of the same communion, Roman Catholic persuasion, who are distinfound acquaintance with the Gospel, and a sinnot only by this tendency to spiritualize the ceremonies of their church, but also by a proof Christianity. cere attachment to the fundamental doctrines

It is more particularly in Bavaria that persons of this description are most numerous. This may perhaps be caused by the circumtaken place amongst the members of the flocks, stance, that a religious awakening has not only that, forty years ago, Feneburg and Winkelhofer taught; it is there that Bishop Sailer but also amongst their pastors. It was there, teaches at present; and there, in a less elevated station, many priests, his disciples, preach, whom the fear of being deprived of the means of doing good sometimes forces to avoid great publicity, but who never depart in their inspread.* From Bavaria sprang Lindl, Gossner, and Bos-those three faithful witnesses, structions from that truth which they desire to who were driven by persecution from place to place; and who, wherever they turned their which had caused them to be proscribed. They steps, did not hesitate to proclaim that Gospel were not proscribed for having

"If I were to die relying for my s the works which you mention, I that I should be condemned; but makes me calm at this awful mome rely on Jesus Christ my Saviour. few words," says Bos, "in the mou ing woman, who was looked upon opened my eyes for the first time stood the meaning of Christ for us: ham, I saw his day. From that nounced to others that Saviour w learned to know, and there were rejoiced with me.” Thus did th whom he wished to prepare for dea him for life eternal. The impress he had received, were never efface soul, thus prepared, was enabled practice those lessons which he ha from the pious professors of his coll development of his faith and sp Thus was he initiated into that d which he was afterwards so severel

tianity, the natural corruption of the heart of man, the impossibility of salvation by works, and the free grace obtained for sinners by the expiatory death of Jesus Christ. Nor let us be astonished at this; it has been so for eighteen centuries, and it is so in our own days; the same cause produces martyrs in the visible churches of all denominations. This is proved, with regard to Protestantism, by the deplorable events in a neighbouring country [alluding to the persecutions in Switzerland]. The whole life of Martin Bos has been an exemplification of this, with regard to Popery. Having been persecuted for more than forty years, because, like St. Paul, he would not know any thing but Jesus Christ, and him crucified, he may be considered, in a religious view, as one of the most remarkable men of the present century. Martin Bos was born on the 25th December, 1762, at Huttenried, in Bavaria. He lost both his parents when he was but four years of age, at an interval of a fortnight only from each other. They had had sixteen children, of whom Martin was one of the youngest. An uncle, who was an ecclesiastical counsellor at Augsburg, received him, and took charge of his education. At the expiration of a few years he would have had him learn some trade; but the young man expressed a desire to devote himself to the ministry; and as the tutor who had given him elementary instructions declared him to be the best of his three hundred pupils, his guardian consented to his pursuing his studies. He entered first the college of St. Saviour, which was under the direction of the ancient Jesuits, near the Lyceum at Augsburg; from thence he was to have gone to Dillingen, in order to study theology exclusively; but when the professors of his college became acquainted with his plan, they endea-of his office: but they could not tak voured to detain him; and it was with extreme regret that they furnished him with the certificates which he required. They were opposed to the university of Dillingen, on account of the sentiments of the professors. Sailer, Zimmer, and Weber, were amongst the most obnoxious, as their evangelical doctrines were in opposition to those which they had endeavoured hitherto to inculcate upon Bos. It does not appear that the lessons of these new masters had any immediate influence on his mind. It is possible that he became acquainted with the nature of true Christianity through them, without having himself practically adopted it. At the end of six years he was ordained priest, and was shortly afterwards appointed curate at Unterthingau, a large town in the province of Kempten.

Before he was appointed to this office, he had begun to feel within him the germ of that seed of eternal life which he was to plant and to water in others. The following is an account of the manner in which he was first led to observe the influence of faith upon the heart. He went, in 1788 or 1789, to visit a woman distinguished by her humility and piety, who was dangerously ill. "I do not doubt," said

Bos had been curate at Untert nearly two years, when he was calle ten, and from thence to Groennba office of a canon. As he was young colleagues, his functions were nearl as those he had hitherto fulfilled; th ed in preaching, and the other du ministry. The zeal which he ma the pulpit and in the confessional, t ness with which he sought his ow and that of his hearers, soon gained ral confidence. To him resorted, in those who wanted consolation, or w instruction. This popularity excit lousy of the other canons; and mat at such a point that they would no lo him among them, and arbitrarily de

his stipend, which they were oblige the period when he emigrated.

Driven away from Groennbach, without knowing which way he si his steps. Being arrived at some di the town, he stopped to take some was led to pray with more fervour 1 ever done before: and the Lord y to answer him, by manifesting hir spirit with great clearness as his M Saviour. He felt himself consoled in the possession of peace and jo into consideration what he should solved upon going to Saeg, to the p burg, who received him as his cura society of this friend his ideas on ance of the ministry became infi serious. He felt that his whole cor be consistent with his sacred offi acquired habits of retirement and He was accustomed to say, "th ought to show himself to the per the exercise of his functions: an e Lord ought to be seen only wher with a message from the Lord."

The injustice of the proceedings at Groennbach did not remain lo

and the Prince Abhat

dinary manner. He felt deeply his own insufficiency, and sought, in continual prayer to God and the assiduous perusal of the Holy Scriptures, the assistance which he needed. As often as he was to enter the pulpit, to visit a sick person, or to instruct a sinner, he poured out his soul before God, to ask of him that which he was afterwards to communicate to others. The year in which he entered into his office was the year of the Catholic jubilee; and, accordingly, many persons from the neighbourhood came to him to make general confessions. Bos showed them the true source of justification, and the only road to life, in teaching them the manner in which absolution and the pardon of sins are granted to faith. Great numbers were converted with their whole heart to the Lord; and these were mostly from among those just and pious men, according to the ophion of the world, who, after having in vain sought repose in the observance of religious forms, in a multiplicity of confessions and pilgrimages, felt themselves relieved from a heavy burden, when they found the pardon of their sins through Him who freely gives it to those who will receive it at his hands. These men, thus renewed in the spirit of their minds, immediately showed their faith by their works and the amendment of their lives; and the world, as it generally happens, instead of rejoicing at their conversion, viewed it with alarm. But the word of God produces fruits even by means of those who have themselves but recently received it. They communicated to others their sentiments, which were embraced also by a priest, who till that time had been only remarkable for his scepticism and unedifying conduct. After having embraced the truth, he became the instrument of a revival of religion, which spread with astonishing rapidity. We might name several other ecclesiastics, who, being placed in connexion with Bos about this period, through circumstances apparently indifferent, owed to him a knowledge of the Gospel, and openly confessed that there is salvation in Jesus Christ alone. One may conceive the spiritual benefit it must have been of to the country, where these blessed tidings resounded in almost every direction. Bos acted principally through preaching; and his sermons made an astonishing impression. He knew how difficult is the office of an evangelist. "We must dig very deeply," said he "to discover the treasure; and it is when we feel our weakness and misery most, that we dig the best; for those are not the best sermons which we have laboured over with difficulty, but those which we have, as it were, supplicated from the Lord with tears and prayers." The sermon which he preached at Wiggensbach on the 1st of January, 1797, was no doubt one of this latter kind. He was doubtful whether he

beware how you despise the word of God, with the value of which it has made you acquainted The effect of this discourse can be explained only by the manner in which the faithful ex press themselves when describing the preaching of the Apostles. It may with truth be said, that there was not a person in the congregation who was not deeply affected. But, whilst some found in it light and life, there were others who discovered only exaggeration, and who had made it a subject of censure. These, on quitting the church, ran to the incumbent, requiring him to dismiss his curate; whilst the friends of the Gospel, on the other hand, entreated him to retain him. The priest hesitated for some time between the two parties: at length, however, he yielded to the most numerous and the most vehement, and disinissed this faithful witness for the truth.

This event was the signal for a violent persecution, from the enemies of the Gospel, against those who openly professed it. They endea voured to bring these faithful men before the tribunal of justice; but as the judges perceived that they were accused of nothing but believing in Jesus Christ, they soon restored them to liberty-but without always granting them protection against the attacks of which they were the object. The consequence was, that their adversaries allowed themselves to use every possible license towards them; accusing them of heresy from the pulpit; and in alehouses taxing them with hypocrisy, and turning them into ridicule. Many of them were, in consequence, obliged to conceal themselves, in order to escape violence: several were compelled to quit the country. It may be added, that the priesthood were the instigators of all these evil deeds. The neighbouring ecclesiastics were mortified at the praises bestowed on Bos, and at his popularity as a preacher. They accused him of wishing to draw away their parishioners; and were known to say, that the best means of putting an end to his popularity, was publicly to accuse him of holding doctrines opposed to those of the Catholic church, and to designate those who followed him as forming a sect. At length the powers in authority considered themselves compelled to notice these proceedings. They arrested a great number, both of the clergy and the laity, and informations were laid against them. The only thing they could allege to their disparagement, was their constant habit of speaking of the necessity of a living faith in Jesus Christ, and the efforts which they made to impress this on those who did not see it in the same light with themselves. It was not till after an inquiry of two years, that the court which was charged with the commission pronounced them innocent. Bos himself, who had for a second time sought an asylum with the venerable