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years; since those whose time was nearly expired, could hardly be expected, on a short intimation, to be prepared for the additional examination.

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The conduct of the Sénate, cited by this author, concerning the non-incorporation of Lambeth doctors, and those from foreign and Scotch universities,—admitting only those from Oxford and Dublin, was certainly founded in justice to men who had toiled, and performed their regular exercises, for the degree; and, as the case now stands, should be repeated, with respect to every B.D. under this statute, who might be desirous of pro ceeding to D.D. Yet, it would be unfair, if, by means of a severer examination, their studies were put more on a par .with those of the men, who had previously been Masters of Arts. On the same principle it would be but equitable that the honorary degrees of noblemen should be deprived of their votes as at Oxford, and not allowed to be steps to others of superior rank: the effect of this measure would be, that noblemen, as at Oxford, would often graduate in the regular way.

The abuses of the system here considered, cannot be denied; and the assertion of the writer, that certain individuals, who under this statute "enter their names at some college, procure a Scotch M.A. or LL.D. and then blazon themselves, as M.A. or LL.D. of College, Cambridge," is too true, and too easily substantiated, to be controverted. It is, doubtless, injurious to the credit of the University, that men who have received no education in the place, should thus plume themselves, even without matriculation, as regular graduates of Cambridge: but this evil will most easily be remedied by another examination at an earlier period after their admission, and by the erasure of the names of those who do not attend it. It would certainly be desirable to abolish the statute altogether, if it can be abolished: but what security could be afforded for the future and unanimous acquiescence of all the colleges? Whereas, the severity of the preceding ordeal would effectually abolish it, in process of time; as those, who for the sake of avoiding the usual exercises for degrees, take refuge under it, thus finding their object defeated, and seeing no particular advantage resulting from its operation, would naturally, if they desired a degree, conform themselves to the usual routine of the place.

We lament, in this pamphlet, a certain tone of irony and sarcasm, which we have observed; more particularly, as the arguments respecting the statute itself have been conducted with great ability, and with due regard to the bad consequences which it has produced. The other part, with respect to Mr. Perry, we omit, as this which we have passed under review, is sufficient for our

purpose, as critics of theological subjects. And we deem none of more importance to the Church than that which relates to the education of its Clergy, and which would prevent incompetent men from explaining its doctrines, and mutilating the sense of the Sacred Text*. If there be theological errors among the Clergy, we may expect them, in a tenfold degree, among their hearers: some there may be of trivial importance, but those which have reference to the interpretation of the Scriptures, are of the greatest consequence. Every clergyman should be able to read the original Scriptures, and not depend on a translation for his exposition of them; in particular" qui se studio Theologiæ totos tradunt," should not be deficient in this essential branch of divinity. The University of Cambridge has often shewn its attachment to the cause of the Church: we trust that she will continue to shew it, by rectifying the abuses, of which the writer of this pamphlet complains.

Essays on various Subjects of Ecclesiastical History and Antiquity. By the REV. JAMES TOWNLEY, D.D. 8vo. pp. 174. 5s. London. Longman. 1824.

THE Essays which form this collection have most of them already appeared, their author tells us, in different periodical publications for which they were originally written. The information which they contain has the appearance of having accumulated whilst Dr. Townley was preparing his illustrations of of Biblical Literature; and we should imagine, that into these Essays he has emptied his Common-Place Book, of such assortments of hints and facts, as he found no fit opportunity of introducing into the course of that work, and yet thought too interesting not to deserve publication. Such an origin would naturally produce a series of papers very unconnected as to their subjects; which are as follows:

I. On the Ancient Zabii, or Ante-Mosaic Idolaters.-II. On the Onolatria, or Worship of the Ass.-III. On the Character of Mary Magdalene.-IV. On the Ancient Christian Vigilia.-V. On the Sortes Sanctorum of the Ancient Christians.-VI. On the Ancient Christian

The author is correct in stating, that even for the trifling exercises which are required, a" crammer" is found in the place: in addition to which we observe, that the examination itself is often a mere farce, as many of the questions are discussed in Limborch, to which a ready access may be pro

cured.

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Agapæ.-VII. On the use of the terms ICHTHUS," ." and "PISCICULI" by the ancient Christians.-VIII. On the Congregation and College de Propaganda Fide; or celebrated Catholic Missionary Institution.IX. On the Prohibitory and Expurgatory Indexes of the Romish Church.-X. On the Progressive Diffusion of the Gospel.

It is due to Dr. Townley, that we should request our readers not to assume, that the character of all the remaining essays may be learnt from our remarks on the first; for readers of reviews are, we suspect, not unfrequently disposed to relinquish the perusal of more than the first page of any article, when the reviewer has felt himself obliged to commence with observations unfavourable to the talents or judgment of the author under his notice; and we must say, that an essay of above twenty pages on the Zabii, as ante-Mosaic idolaters, only reminds us that there are writers, who still proceed with as indiscriminate an admission of every thing that has been asserted by an old or rare author, as good Jeremy Taylor was wont to do. There have lately been several persons of diffuse reading and small judgment, who have described the manners and customs of a sect existing, according to their belief, before Abraham, with as little hesitation as if nobody could dispute the accuracy of accounts, which must affect to be built on authorities much earlier than the writings of Moses.

The Zabians are first mentioned in the Koran, as a sect then existing amongst the Arabians, They believed in one supreme God, accessible to man only through the mediation of other inferior deities, to whom they made their prayers, and in honour of whom they performed certain rites; acknowledging the Stars to be the actual persons of these mediatorial beings; and worshipping idols, as their representatives. Astrology, therefore, was part of their belief; and like the followers of every other false religion, they used charms and enchantments: their idea of the necessity of a Mediator to present the prayers of man before that Almighty Being, in whose perfect sight man must be impure, exhibits some traces of the doctrines of Christianity, faintly recollected in the religion of their forefathers, or indistinctly heard from their neighbours. But the predilection of the Arabians for long genealogies had induced them to receive from Christians or Jews with deeper interest, and to retain with more care, historical notices of their ancestors,such as the account of their descent, through Ishmael, from Abraham, the common father of the faithful,-than any spiritual instruction. Hence the history of Abraham and other patriarchs, loaded with many absurd and extravagant additions, either of their own, or rabbinical inventions, was monstrously enough

united into an heterogeneous mass of Judaism, Deism, and Idolatry. The materials of this combination form a clue, that cannot reasonably be overlooked, for leading us to the period in the course of which such a system must have grown up,-a period which could not be long antecedent to the date of Mahommed's mention of the existence of the Zabian religion. Spencer (De leg. Hebr.) has said of that age, Gentes tum prope omnes, antiquos religionum limites dimovendi et sacra omnia miscendi, pruritu et libidine æstuasse. But this mode of speaking implies too much a positive wish on the part of the people to shake off the purer faith of their fathers. The different errors which, at that time, led astray different portions of the Christian world, were rather the effects of ignorance and credulity, unable to detect the mistakes or misrepresentations of fanciful, or ambitious and artful teachers. In periods immediately subsequent even to necessary changes of religion, men are naturally less guarded from the temptation to make still farther changes, than when the popular sanction of ancient usage and belief has been superadded by time to other and sounder arguments, for the truth of the national religion.

Mohammed swept away all the mediatorial beings of the Zabian creed, for the same purpose as he denied the spiritual kingdom and dominion of Christ, to substitute his own authority, as alone empowered to declare the will of God to men; but he had the cunning to incorporate several Jewish legends, and some of the historical details of the Scriptures, with his own pretended revelations; as a means of procuring a more easy reception for the latter amongst the Zabians,—of whose creed his selections were already perhaps a part, and the ignorant Jews and Christians of Arabia."

As Mohammed did not confine his accounts respecting the patriarchs to the truth, contained in Scripture, it could not be expected that the Mohammedan writers would exercise any severer criticism than their master, in distinguishing between history and fable. They naturally assumed the truth of any such legendary stories, as well known historical facts, sanctioned by the indisputable authority of the Koran; though it is probable that many of them were inventions subsequent to its appearance, and made to harmonize with the scattered hints or expressions in that book, on which the inventors had built their different tales.

Next in the train, who have given most unreasonable authority to these groundless and idle stories, is the learned Jew, Maimonides; who, finding in the Arabian historians the reflection of a Rabbinical picture, hailed it as independent evidence of

the reality of some Jewish dream. His willing belief of the wild traditions about his nation, which he found received amongst the Arabians, is a proof of the penetration with which Mohammed set this snare for the Jews; but one would scarcely have expected to find a learned Englishman gravely detailing circumstances in the history of Abraham, neither related in Scripture, nor easily reconcileable with it, on the authority of Maimonides' absurd confidence in some Mohammedan commentator on the Koran; yet such was the credulity of the celebrated Orientalist Hyde. Perhaps a more striking proof of this truly learned man's incapability, or unwillingness, to weigh the value of an authority which served his purpose, can scarcely be alleged, than the following reference made by him to Bede in the course of a critical discussion respecting the patriarchs immediately after the flood. "Quamvis itaque," says Hyde, " Eber et Pelegh et Reu fuerint orthodoxi, nihilominus non potuerunt crescenti idololatriæ ita resistere, quin (ut venerabilis Beda in Chronico asserit) constet tempore Phaleghi ædificata fuisse templa et in eis principum statuas pro Diis adoratas fuisse. De Relig. vet. Persarum, c. ii.

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Oriental scholars have almost invariably been found to shrink from subjecting their favourite authors to the same uncompromising criticism, as the enquirers into European antiquities or history, ordinarily employ for the sake of ascertaining how far they may safely trust their guides. The orientalist seems to have a consciousness, that if he searches with irreverent freedom, the light of his lamp will be quenched; and that he shall receive a rude and painful blow, whilst the sparkling treasures which have played before his eyes will disappear for ever. If this be the generally recognised failing of his class, we cannot wonder that an author, who could think the assertion of a Saxon chronicler worth listening to, as evidence for facts supposed to happen long before the birth of Abraham, should prove a most unsafe guide in the fields of Arabian and Rabbinical literature. Accordingly we find Dr. Hyde asserting, on the authority of a Mohammedan, Ibn Phacreddin Angjou, that his countrymen, the Persians, became Zabians before the death of Shem; that however they were converted from Zabianism by Abraham. " Atqui ad omnem sui temporis alienum cultum et Sabaismum opponendum et profligandum, pro virili allaboravit Abraham. Fas sit credere Abrahamum omnes Persarum in religione superfluitates et additiones superstitiosas sustulisse, easque nugas dedocuisse Persas." De Vet. Rel. Persian, c. i. Previous, however, to his call Abraham himself was a Zabian, according to Hyde; and was persecuted after his conversion by either Ninus or Nimrod; "Ea autem

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