sation or œconomy-that there is also a Son of God, his Word, who proceeded from him; by whom all things were made, and without whom nothing was made; who was sent by him into the Virgin, and was born of her; being both man and God, the Son of man and the Son of God, and called Jesus Christ; who suffered, died, and was buried, according to the Scriptures; and was raised again by the Father; and was taken up into heaven, there to sit at the right hand of the Father, and thence to come to judge the quick and the dead; who sent from heaven, from his Father, according to his promise, the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, the Sanctifier of the Faith of all who believe in the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost." (cap. 2.)

As some relief from these abstruse inquiries, and as a specimen of the ability with which the Bishop of Bristol can handle questions of a practical nature, we shall quote his remarks on the nature and utility of fasting.

"Ecclesiastical history abounds with proofs of the tendency of mankind to run into extremes; and thus to convert institutions, which in their original design and application were beneficial and salutary, into sources of the most pernicious errors and abuses. Were we required to produce an instance in confirmation of the truth of this remark, we should without hesitation refer the reader to the subject which we have been now considering. Fasting, as it was originally practised in the Church, was regarded as a means to a moral end: as a means, peculiarly fitted both to the circumstances and to the nature of man, of nourishing in him those feelings of contrition and self-abasement, and of enabling him to acquire that mastery over his sensual appetites, which are essential elements in the composition of the Christian character. When, at the season appointed by the Church for the commemoration of the Passion of Christ, its members, amongst other external observances-designed to express their lively sense of their own unworthiness, and of the deadly nature of sin which could be expiated only by so great a sacrifice-abstained also from their customary meals and recreations; surely the most enlightened reason must approve the motive of their abstinence; and admit as well its suitableness to the fallen condition of man, as its tendency to encourage a devout and humble temper. To these considerations we may add that, from the mixed constitution of man's nature and the intimate union which subsists between his soul and body, the occasional restraints, which the primitive Christians voluntarily imposed upon themselves in respect of food and amusement, could scarcely fail to have a beneficial operation upon their character; were it only by interrupting for a time their ordinary habits, and reminding them that the objects of sense possessed neither the sole, nor the principal, claim to their attention. A life of habitual indulgence, even when that indulgence leads not to positive excess, is favourable neither to intellectual nor spiritual improvement. It enfeebles our mental powers: it deadens our moral perceptions: it tends especially to render us selfish and

regardless of the wants and feelings of others. But when experience also tells us that such a course of life terminates almost invariably in excess, no further argument can be wanting to prove the reasonableness and utility of occasional abstinence-if used only as a means to an end-to invigorate the moral principle within us, and to promote humility of temper and purity of heart. Unhappily, however, for the Church, from the propensity of the human mind to run into extremes -from an increasing fondness for the tenets of the Platonic philosophy-and an indiscriminate imitation of what is recorded in Scripture of holy men, who, being placed in extraordinary circumstances, were never designed to be held up as examples, in all points of their conduct, to ordinary Christians-from the combined operation of all these causes; fasting, instead of being considered as a salutary discipline, or as a means to holiness, came to be regarded as holiness itself. The piety of men was estimated by the frequency and severity of their fasts. In proportion as they subjected themselves to greater privations and hardships, they acquired a higher reputation for sanctity. A species of rivalry was thus excited; new and strange methods were invented of macerating and torturing their bodies; till at length extravagance in practice led to error in doctrine; fasts and mortifications were regarded as meritorious in themselves as procuring by their intrinsic efficacy remission of sin and restoration to the favour of God." P. 418.

We cannot close our remarks without begging the Right Rev. author to accept our thanks for the valuable production before us. In an age of light and flimsy reading, when the public mind seems engrossed with the airy works of imagination and the ephemeral offsprings of the press, his work, much as it deserves, will scarcely obtain an extensive popularity. But however limited its circulation, it will, we are sure, be received with approbation by the learned. It is really gratifying to turn from the light, popular, drawing-room volumes of the day, to a work of deep theological erudition and research. The Bishop of Bristol has not only stamped his own character as a divine by the present performance, but has done good service to the cause of learning by drawing the public attention to the muchneglected treasures of the primitive ecclesiastical writers, and we sincerely hope that his example will be followed by other theologians. When all the remains of Christian antiquity shall have been examined with the same judgment and accuracy which his Lordship has applied to the writings of Tertullian, then, and not till then, may we expect that some writer will present to the world, what it has not yet seen, a full, còrrect, and impartial ecclesiastical history. We are not blind to the merits of some of those which we already possess, particu

larly to the valuable qualities of a Mosheim and a Weismann, but we do believe that sufficient materials for such a work as we have alluded to, have not yet been collected; materials too ample and of too difficult research to be brought together by the utmost assiduity of one mind, and which must therefore be accumulated by the united labours of those who, pursuing the steps of the Bishop of Bristol, devote their hours to the study of the precious relics of ecclesiastical antiquity.

Another advantage of such productions as the one under consideration would be, the attestation which would thereby be afforded to the purity of the Established Church, under which we have the happiness to live. The accordance of the Primitive and Anglican Churches in articles of faith has been shewn by many divines; a truth, nevertheless, which would still more clearly appear, if the writings of the Fathers were subjected to a still more accurate investigation. With respect to Tertullian, this has been most ably accomplished by the Right Rev. author of the work in question, from which it may be inferred, without hesitation, that the faith of this Father was, in all essential points, correspondent with the faith of the Church of England. We say in essential points, because a scrutinizing eye, may doubtless discover some minor differences. The chief of these perhaps are Tertullian's notions respecting a kind of purgatory (p. 342), and the practice of praying and offering for the dead (p. 345); but the former seems to be a certain philosophical notion, rather than an acticle of his religion, and the latter may only be the reference to a practice which he thought permissable rather than enjoined. Some lesser differences may be owing to his adoption of the errors of Montanus, which errors, however, did not reach the fundamentals of faith, for that heretic, as Mosheim assures us, "made no attempts upon the peculiar doctrines of Christianity." Certain it is, that Tertullian agrees with our Church in all the great and essential doctrines

the sufficiency of Holy Writ, Tradition being only its handmaid, the doctrines of the Trinity, the incarnation, death, and resurrection of Christ, the fall in Adam, and the recovery by Christ, the liberty of the will, and the co-operation of Divine Grace. Hence we may place the attestation of Tertullian among other convincing testimonies, that the creed of the Anglican Church is substantially the same with the faith of the Christian Church in the second century.

The Book of Churches and Sects; or the Opinions of all Denominations of Christians differing from the Church of England, traced to their Source by an Exposition of the various Translations and Interpretations of the Sacred Writings: to which is added, a brief Refutation of Unitarianism, and an Arrangement of Texts in Support of the Church of England. By the REV. T. CHARLES BOONE, B.A. of St. Peter's College, Cambridge. 8vo. pp. 560. 14s. London. Riving

THIS work is avowedly a compilation, but it shews no slight industry and intelligence. It gives the outlines of a great variety of opinions, which must have been sought in an extensive range of research, and however important or otherwise it may become to the general reader, it is at least an unusual effort for a young divine, and does much credit to the author.

In our incomparable Liturgy we pray that, God would "deliver us from all heresy and schism," and we pray rightly. For they are among the most fatal enemies to the truth, the most hazardous to Christians, and the most direct and envenomed of all the instruments wielded by the power of evil against the Church of God. Like the abiding and fated enmity of that old serpent from which they sprang, they have bruised the heel of the Church from the beginning, and shall still wound it, until the period when her warfare shall be done, when power and strength shall be upon her brow, and the head of revolt shall be crushed finally and for ever.

We know that there is a common opinion that, differences in religious tenets are matters of comparative unimportance, that sincerity palliates or purifies all things, and that there is no crime but in known and wilful error.

We live in an age of boundless candour, compliment, and liberality. It is the boast of this accomplished and congratulatory time, that the severity of ancient doctrine has been polished down. The blandishments of courts and drawing-rooms have insinuated into our pulpits and closets. The right hand of doctrinal fellowship is to be henceforth held out with equal cordiality to the friend and adversary of the Gospel, and all things are to be admitted among our graceful circle, but the repulsive shape of unbending and uncompromising principle.

Who shall doubt all this, who sees with what easy popula rity the most atrocious perverters of the common truths of religion make their way through the world; or knows with what unfeigned and contemptuous astonishment the eyes of the world would be turned on the man who dared to pronounce

NO. VII. VOL. IV.

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the word "heresy," and how rapidly himself and his denunciation would be consigned to "a remote and unenlightened age; the æra of monks and monkeries; of priestly acrimony, and popular ignorance, uncharitableness, and subjection."

But what say the Scriptures? In the clearest language they say, that a man is fatally answerable for the error of his opinions. Heresy, instead of passing under the specious title of liberty of thought, is declared damnable! the work of the "father of lies." "Now the works of the flesh are these-adultery, (the enumeration then proceeds)-HERESIES"-which the Apostle ranks with idolatry, murder, and such like-" of the which I tell you, that they which do such things, shall not inherit the kingdom of God." Gal. v. 20.

St. Peter marking the approaching calamities of the Church, pronounces of heresies, "There shall be false teachers among you who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, denying the Lord that bought them.' 2 Pet. ii. 1.

Their very existence is suffered, like that of any other work of the evil spirit, only for the separation of the hypocritical and criminal members from the sound and holy. St. Paul says"There must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you." 1 Cor. xi. 19.

It is accounted among the merits of the early Christian Church of Ephesus, to hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, (heretics who denied the incarnation) which "says the Spirit, I also hate." Rev..ii. 6.

In the declaration to the Church of Thyatira, the Gnostic doctrines, the earliest perversion of the Christian faith, are pronounced the "depths of Satan." Rev. ii. 24.

The New Testament abounds with similar declarations of the evil, the guilt, and the punishment of opinion contradictory of revealed truth. "Their word will eat as doth a canker : of whom is Hymenæus and Philetus; who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some. Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his." 2 Tim. ii. 17, 18, 19.

"Holding faith, and a good conscience: which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck of whom is Hymenæus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, (abandoned to their error,) that they may learn not to blaspheme." 1 Tim. i. 19, 20.

"Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils (demons.) Speaking lies in HYPOCRISY; having their conscience seared with a hot iron!