mony, is the chief object of the present Essay to illustrate and maintain."pp. 106, 107.

Sermons, Doctrinal and Practical. By the Rev. J. E. Riddle, M.A. of St. Edmund Hall, Oxford; Curate of Harrow. London. Hatchards. 1838. 8vo. pp. 343,

THESE are earnest and impressive Sermons. Mr. Riddle's good taste has preserved him from the inflation and extravagance which have of late been too frequent in volumes of a similar nature.

Colloquies: Imaginary Conversations between a Phrenologist and the shade of Dugald Steward. By J. Slade, M.D., F.G.S., M.P.S.L. London. Parbury. 1838. 12mo. pp. 336.

We have never seen the notions of the Phrenologists explained more unobjec tionably than they are in this little work. But we cannot congratulate the amiable author on the success with which he has managed the imaginative part of his subject. The fiction is insipid, and the dialogue wants the qualities most indispensable in that difficult species of composition.

The Illustrated Family Bible, containing the Old and New Testaments, &c. &c. ; with the Self-Interpreting and Explanatory Notes, and Marginal References of the late Rev. John Brown, Minister of the Gospel at Haddington; to which is appended a complete Concordance to the Old and New Testament. Smith, Elder & Co. 1838.

THIS is a very splendid reprint of a Commentary on the Bible, which has long been in some degree of repute among the Dissenters. Though, if we remember right, there was a good deal of difficulty in disposing of the edition published some years ago by Dr. Raffles. Perhaps the typographical beauty of this edition (for it is singularly beautiful as to printing, though we cannot admire the taste of the decorations, and are old-fashioned enough to prefer the vermillion, to the carmine tint, for the rubric, if our dissenting friends will allow us so to call it) may render it more successful. The cover informs us, that it is "dedicated to her most gracious Majesty Queen Victoria," and it contains what is, we presume, a portrait of her Majesty in a small medallion. To us, who consider this as the oddest and most observable thing about the work, it would have been more satisfactory if it had been said whether it was dedicated with or without permission; and, if the former, with what degree of explanation that permission was sought.

The Lives of Dr. John Donne, Sir Henry Wolton, Mr. Richard Hooker, Mr. George Herbert, and Dr. Robert Sanderson. By Izaak Walton. A new Edition, with Illustrative Notes and Plates. Washbourne.

pp. 424.

1838. 8vo.

As to the work itself, any remark would be superfluous; as to this edition, it seems to us to be singularly beautiful, and to do great credit to the publisher. The embellishments are numerous and interesting.

eli

A Brief History of Church Rates, proving the liability of a Parish to them to be a Common Law liability; including a Reply to the Statements on that Subject in Sir John Campbell's Letter to the Right Hon. Lord Stanley, on the Law of Church Rates. By the Rev. William Goode, M.A., of Trinity College, Cambridge, and Rector of St. Antholin, London. Hatchard. 1838. 8vo. pp. 76.

We are not quite sure whether law, or common sense, or argument, go for anything on this subject. If they should ever have their turn in the discussion of this question, Mr. Goode's little work will be found very valuable. As it is, however, without any very sanguine expectation of such a state of things, and also without professing to be lawyers enough to vouch for minutiæ in such matters (though we know of no reason for the least doubt of accuracy), we strongly recommend the work to our readers.

Church Commission. Memorials and Communications from the Cathedral and Collegiate Churches in England and Wales: with an Appendix, relative to the Bishopric of Sodor and Man. Reprinted from Returns made to the Hon. the House of Commons, March 16, 1837, and ordered to be printed, April 14, and May 22. Rivingtons. 1838. 8vo. pp. 176.

WE mention this work merely that our readers may know where to find these valuable and important documents, collected and arranged in a convenient form, and rendered still more convenient by an Index. They are not only in themselves a very interesting fact in the Church History of England, but they contain a vast deal of very curious information, which will be gratifying to students of that history, independent of the circumstances by which they have been elicited.

An Inquiry into the Nature and Prospects of the Adamite Race, as viewed in connection with the Scheme of Christianity. Christianity. Whittaker. 1838.

We

We are at a loss to imagine why this book should have been sent to us. must have written a great deal in vain, if we are supposed to believe, with the author, "that the benevolent Creator views the variety of creeds which are established among his creatures with complacency and tenderness."-p. 182. We notice it, however, because it is always worth while to observe that those who wish to get rid of the doctrines, are generally obliged to begin by getting rid of the facts, and the letter, of Scripture. Of course, all that we read about the temptation and fall of man is merely figurative. Everything in the Garden of Eden, (except the literal man-in defiance of Bishop Horsley,) and even the Garden of Eden itself, is mere figure. "But, if we regard the words' tree of

as a figurative mode of speech, used to denote Christ's covenant of salvaon, or some visible symbol by which that covenant was represented; and, if we regard the word eat, as applied to that tree,' merely as a figurative expression also, implying the partaking of, or acquiring, or attaining to, that eternal life which is imparted through Christ, (which is the sense in which St. John employs the word eat as applied to the tree of life,' of which he speaks, and which appears to be the only rational sense in which the word can be underNO. XLVI. APR. 1838.

P P

stood as so applied in Genesis also); then, must we infer, that the words tree of the knowledge of good and evil' are used figuratively also, to express some representation of that knowledge,' which was fatal to the attainment of eternal life, of that 'knowledge,' the possession of which involved the loss, or the non-attainment, of that eternal life which was purchased by the sacrifice of Christ; and, that the word ' eat, as applied to that ، tree of knowledge,' is also figuratively used, to express the acquisition, or reception, of that 'knowledge."—p. 63. A very rational way of interpreting Scripture certainly— and for every species of fanaticism or heresy, very convenient.

Isle of Man and Diocese of Sodor and Man. Ancient and authentic Records and Documents relating to the Civil and Ecclesiastical History of that Island. Collected and arranged by the Rev. William Percival Ward, M.A., Domestic Chaplain to the Bishop of Sodor and Man. Rivingtons. 1837. 8vo. pp. 186.

THIS little work does not require our recommendation, for, under present circumstances, the subject is enough to secure attention to every publication which relates to it. We must, however, thank Mr. Ward, not only for having collected so many interesting and valuable documents, and so much historical information, but for having given them to us in so pleasing, and, at the same time, so cheap a form.

The Lord Bishop of Ripon's Cobwebs to catch Calvinists; being a few Remarks on his Lordship's Questions to Candidates, at his late Ordination at Ripon. By a Clergyman of the Diocese. Simpkin and Marshall. 1838. 8vo. pp.

23.

We have told our readers all that we know of this pamphlet by the mere act of giving them the title-page, which appeared to us so disgusting, that we did not look further into it. We presume, that the writer is some aggrieved Calvinist, who has been caught; but whether this is the case-or whether it is a gratuitous effusion of party-the writer ought to know, that the mere office of a bishop entitles him to be treated as a gentleman, even by those who are not gentlemen themselves. We say nothing, for we really know nothing, about the circumstances which have given rise to the pamphlet, and we are in no wise engaged to defend the conduct of the Bishop of Ripon, or any other bishop, in this, or in any other matter; but, be the bishop's conduct what it may, it can. not authorize any of his inferior clergy to show him up to the public, under the figure of a loathsome and despicable creeping thing, employed in spreading snares for the destruction of his brethren. Such humour should be confined to Sunday newspapers, and the other popular organs of a Mar-prelate age; and if ever it is taken up by the clergy, it ought to be met with unqualified disgust, and received as an avowal, that the cause in which it is employed is identified with the lowest radicalism. We do not know whether the title-page (for we are speaking of that only) is more or less discreditable for being ano

nymous.

Printed by C. Roworth & Sons, Bell Yard, Temple Bar.

INDEX

OF THE

REMARKABLE PASSAGES

IN THE

CRITICISMS, EXTRACTS, AND ECCLESIASTICAL

RECORD.