saintly list with the utmost pomp and solemnity. The Pope declared his reason for this procedure to be, "That the calamities of war, and the dread of â peace prejudicial to the interests of religion, had determined him to procure for the afflicted church some new patrons of credit and weight with God: in the hope that they would exert themselves to appease the anger of God, and that their aid might be effectual to propitiate the Divine anger." The votes of the Cardinals were then taken, whether the above were to be saints or not. On the day of the ceremony, the holy father proceeded to St. Peter's, to open the gates of heaven to the new saints; and there, amid infinite pomp, published his decree, to exalt, to sanctify (i. e. to the rank of advocates and intercessors with God) the four claimants, that their names might be invoked by all future generations. While Te Deum was chaunting, salvoes of artillery announced throughout Rome "this triumph of the church militant, under the command of the Lieutenant-General of Jesus Christ on earth!" Prayer was immediately offered up, that God would favourably regard them, for the sake of the virtues and merits of these four new saints: to whom, as well as to God, the pope, cardinals, and whole congregation made a public confession of sin; and indulgences were granted to all who should, with certain devotional acts, visit their altars, and venerate their relics.-It may be added, that canonization is always preceded by beatification, as a sort of preliminary step; and that fifty years must elapse after the death of the individual, before he can be beatified. So that after this long interval, when in all human probability most of the witnesses of the lives and miracles of the new saints are dead, the Pope undertakes to determine that which, if the doctrines of his church are true, is the most solemn decision he can make-namely, that a creature is to be worshipped and prayed to as a sort of demi-god by the faithful on earth;-a decision which, if erroneous, involves all in idolatry! Sibthorp, pp. 17-19. We would gladly extend our quotations, but it must not be. Sincerely do we pray God to bless the several discourses and the several preachers. The Fellow of Magdalen, last quoted, sets his clerical brethren a bright example of that union, always so desirable in a Christian minister, of unaffected piety with extensive information and powerful intellect. God grant that many more such preachers may rise to advocate the principles of the blessed REFORMATION! Principles of Self-Knowledge; or, an Attempt to demonstrate the Truth of Christianity, against the Cavils of the Infidel, &c. By the late STEPHEN DREW, Esq., Barrister at Law, Jamaica. London: Longman. 2 vols. 8vo. 1828. (Concluded from p. 228.) WE concluded our former notice of Mr. Drew's interesting work with an extract from his observations on the subject of natural religion. The second volume, to which we shall direct our attention at present, is composed of treatises on the most important point of Christian belief. Before, however, making any observation on the manner in which these are written, we must hazard a few words respecting the character of the elementary works on divinity at this time known in England. It is a misfortune, and that not a slight one, to the English Church that the Universities, which are nominally and professionally the guardians of ecclesiastical loyalty, should have no visible provision for the efficient defence of either the establishment or religion itself. As we love the church for its own sake more than we do the Universities for theirs, we shall never cease to regard them with a sorrowful eye, while they continue mere schools of classics and mathematics; while they can send out thousand after thousand of young men with the education of gentlemen, with Greek metres, and the powers of Algebra, to help and defend a church that is shaken at its foundations, and propagate the Gospel, in defiance of infidelity and the world. We have not now room to enter into an examination of the systems of elementary theological instruction pursued at Oxford and Cambridge; but so universally deficient are they in every useful provision, that not one in five hundred of the Bachelors of Arts who enter the church six months after their degree, could fairly explain half a dozen verses in the New Testament. It therefore becomes a most important duty with every friend of the church, to labour with all his might to force the Universities into a more useful and consistent mode of procedure. His next duty is, till this can be brought about, to look into the methods which might be profitably employed in better qualifying candidates for orders for their profession. This inquiry is of the utmost importance; but it has been taken up by no author of the present day we have met with. It has been left, like almost every other subject of vital use to the religious interests of the country, in unaccountable neglect. The little, narrow views taken of matters connected with the church, have made its members lose sight of its proper defences. They have been led to imagine that it wanted the noisy declarations of a party, or the policy of statesmen, to carry it through the stream. Whereas its real deficiency is in the weakness of the pillars which support it; in the ignorance, and, in a great measure, the consequent indifference and sloth of the clergy. We are of course speaking but of human means; but of these we know of none of such absolute importance as the better preparation of the young members of the Establishment. A spirit of intellectual sloth is almost universally diffused among them. They want the vigour which an habitual study of professional knowledge would give them, and the veneration they would feel for their situation after a severe inquiry into its several duties. But what, on leaving the University, is the future candidate for orders to do? Is he to take a private tutor, or make the best progress he can under his own guidance? If he do the former, he will, it is likely, be what is technically called crammed for the occasion, but will most probably be as ignorant of the true nature of theological learning or study as before. Divinity read or taught by the lesson, can not only not sink into the heart, but can lay no hold on the intellectual constitution; it is made a cold, dry, and barren study, fitting the candidate, if he have a good memory, for passing his examination, but leaving him afterwards without the smallest wealth either in treasured thoughts or holier feelings. If, on the other hand, he sets himself down, as is generally the case, to the task of self-instruction, where is he to find a safe guide in his method of study, or works fitted to lead him gradually to the sublime knowledge he is endeavouring to acquire? It would be difficult beyond measure to answer these questions satisfactorily. We are acquainted with no introduction to theological learning in our language which we could for a moment regard as in the lowest degree answering their design*. Several have been published, and several are accredited by the most influential persons connected with the education of ministers for the Established Church. Of these works, that of the late Bishop of Winchester has attained the greatest circulation, and is in most repute among candidates for orders. This book is as little calculated to produce a good impression on the mind of the reader, or to give him a right idea of the study of divinity, and of its several parts, as any that was ever published. It presents, it is true, a multitude of parts necessary to be learned; and explanations of the Thirty-nine Articles, which are written in a clear and lucid style of reasoning. But this is but a very small portion of what an introduction to the study of theology should contain. Beside the positive introduction conveyed by dates and abstract of histories, it should possess exemplifications of all the grand principles to which the young theologian must afterwards turn for the explanation of every subject on which his attention can be fixed. It should enable him to read the Scriptures with the eye and heart-we do not say of faith, because this is beyond the power of books--but with the eye and heart of a man in love with truth, of a man disposed and prepared to follow and embrace it. An elementary work on theology might effect this without any deviation from its elementary character. It might present the manifold majesty of its subject so as to be seen in detail, without diminishing its effect upon the heart when rightly contemplated. It might contain every thing useful to the student, but every thing so set forth * T. Hartwell Horne's celebrated work, and Wilson's Lectures on the Evidences (the last only just published), must be reckoned as exceptions.-Edit. that it should call out higher powers of mind than astronomy and afford more valuable knowledge than the mere grammar of theology. In the book of Bishop Tomline, and others of the same kind, there is neither heart nor spirit-nothing that leads to the development of deep human feeling, or the awakening of any religious aspiration. They are cold and vapid compilations, made up of materials that seem to have been consecrated to the building of a temple, but which have fallen into hands that forgot their value. Defective, however, as these introductions are in the proper spirit which should inspire and animate them, they are almost equally so as mere technical or scientific works. There is not one which could be put into the hands of a student, with the assurance that he would find what he wants in it. We speak not only of sad deficiences in doctrinal points, but of their general character as works of elementary instruction. In Tomline, for example, we find the first of the two volumes consisting almost entirely of an abridgment of Scripture history. This, however well done or useful, it should be observed, had been already admirably managed by Dr. Watts. The remaining part of the volume consists of a meagre account of some Jewish antiquities, which in the little work we have just alluded to, are explained with equal perspicuity and fulness. The second volume consists of an exposition of the Articles, abridged from Burnet and others. And thus this standard elementary work of theology, this grand foundation stone of sacred knowledge so lauded and circulated, that it has passed, we believe, nearly twenty editions, consists of Dr. Watts's child's book put into an octavo volume, and the expositions of the Thirty-nine Articles re-written to form another. Whether such a work can contain the necessary qualities of an Introduction to Theology, we leave any person at all acquainted with the subject to determine. The great error, it seems, into which the Bishop and other similar writers have fallen, while preparing their works, has been their misunderstanding the principles on which they should be composed. Divinity is neither like mathematics nor any other science; it is not to be taught or studied without a knowledge and a sense of the great end to which it leads. It is not to be broken either into syllogisms or propositions, nor is it possible to ascend the lowest step of the ladder, without the support of a guide, whom we feel conscious could carry us well on towards the top. In neither Bishop Tomline's, nor the other elementary works of theology usually put into the hands of English students, is there any attempt at affording more instruction than may be necessary to pass a slight vivâvoce examination. They are no better than a sort of commonplace books for the nursery; whereas, if rightly composed, they might present a grand and imposing outline of the vast and sacred science of which they treat. Particulars would be explained by enlightened expositions of great general truths; antiquity and the other aids to scriptural knowledge would be taught, but they would be closely and evidently in connexion with the sublimer parts of the system, and this elementary instruction would be made the basis, sufficiently broad and solid, of a sound and noble theology. If this were the case, we should meet with infinitely fewer ill-instructed readers of the Scriptures; infinitely fewer pretenders to a knowledge of the very nature of which they have not a conception. As it now is, by the mischievous mistakes of writers on the elements of divinity, students are taught to imagine themselves qualified for their profession, when possessed of the bare naked learning that consists of nothing more than chronology, Greek syntax, and an abstract of the several books of Scripture. They are led to suppose, that in these is to be found all the necessary erudition of a young clergyman; and the consequence is, that many shrewd and industrious young men who offer themselves for orders are seldom in the lowest degree qualified to think or reason on the mightier subjects of theological science. pro It is not unworthy of observation, that the elementary works written by the members of other churches than our own, are not deserving of the censures we have just passed on the ductions of modern church divines. What may be the cause of this, we do not at present attempt to explain; but, leaving our readers to compare the works which our students possess as guides, with those compiled for the use of the young members of other religious bodies, we proceed to mention the contents of the volume before us.-Mr. Drew's work was not written with the primary intention of forming an introduction to theology; but it is formed on a plan which will render it of considerable service to young theologians. The cause of its composition deserves to be mentioned, as it will explain the ideas of the author, in the arrangement of his subjects. The circumstances attending the trial of Carlile are still fresh in the mind of most persons. It will therefore be remembered by our readers, that the defence he set up was chiefly composed of a violent attack, or rather abuse of Christianity. The Court very properly refused him permission to continue, on the perfectly just plea that he was then being tried for an offence against the common law of the land. It being no consequence, in fact, as far as his guilt was concerned, whether Christianity be true or false. The legislature had declared it illegal blasphemously to attack it; and the question for the jury was, whether he had or had not |