These statutes, in all their bigoted severity, remain yet in force, notwithstanding the decrees of the Council of Trent. The Creed of Pope Pius IV. contains a clause, which is suppressed in Dr. Challoner's Grounds of the Catholic Religion, in virtue of which, he who signs the creed binds himself not only to the decrees of the Council of Trent, but likewise to "all other things delivered, determined, and declared by the Sacred Canons and General Councils." Should the Church of Rome, therefore," says Mr. Evans, "at any time find herself hampered by the ambiguity of a Tridentine expression, she can refer to something more definite; and Protestants, if they would know by what the Church of Rome is guided in her doctrine and discipline, must also refer to the Sacred Canons," &c. Nay, the council of Trent itself distinctly recognises the statutes. But upon this subject we must refer to the proofs at large in the volume before us, to which we shall have much occasion of reference in future papers.

Altars prohibited by the Church of England. By WILLIAM GOODE, M.A. London: Hatchard & Son. 1844. 8vo.

This is an important and well-timed documentary publication. It is, unhappily, but too well known that the Anti-Protestant Tractarian agitators are endeavouring, by every means in their power, to substitute altars for communion-tables in our churches; in order to promote their erroneous views of the nature of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. The Communion-Table," Mr. Goode inform us, "is thrust out in old Churches, to make way for them. They are studiously introduced, wherever practicable, and even, in the most disingenuous and characteristically Tractarian way, into new churches. And thus the purity of our Church's doctrine on the subject is placed in jeopardy." (Page 4.)

Mr. Goode has, with much labour and research, brought together a large quantity of historical and ecclesiastico-legal information, which demonstrates that 46 Altars are prohibited by the Church of England;" and that "the only thing, which properly answers the description of that article of Church-furniture, which is to be used for the administration of the Holy Communion, is a table of joiner's work, standing on a frame, and unattached to any part of the church." (Page 46.)

Mr. Goode's pamphlet will amply repay the time and labour bestowed on the perusal of it. He supports all his statements by minute and accurate references.

Church Architecture scripturally considered, from the Earliest Ages to the Present Time. By the Rev. F. CLOSE, A.M. London: Hatchard. 1844.

An elegant and eloquent essay of uncommon merit, highly spiritual and purely Protestant; written in the conviction, "that some of the worst doctrinal errors of the mediæval and subsequent centuries are now gradually and systematically returning and settling down, silently and unperceived in the Protestant Church, by no other means than these; viz., the restoration of the emblems of superstition, and the extravagant decoration of churches." Mr. Close aims and arrives at the root of the matter in a manner that may be esteemed too bold by some of our readers; but we must contend for principles, even at the expense of privileges and persons. Neither in the first or second Paradise, Mr. Close reminds us, is there a Temple; for, in the New Jerusalem, "the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the Temple of it." "Neither man in his sinless state," says Mr. Close, "nor man in glory, needs the feeble help of temple-services; all temples, altars, churches, and religious ceremonies, are the badges and proofs of the fallen, guilty state of man."

"This truth," he continues, "may well sink into our hearts, to humble our pride, and to teach us the true end of all those buildings which have since been elevated for God's worship-they are testimonies to the guilt of man, while they lead him to the fountains of mercy! What speaks the blood of Abel's sacrifice-or of Noah's-or of Abraham's, or of his son's? What meaneth this service?--this blood-stained altarthis writhing victim? They tell of sin-and the sinner's doom-and the sinner's exposure to God's wrath! And what meaneth that pompous ceremonial—that dark

and holy place, separate and secluded, into which one man alone dares enter, and he but once a year? And wherefore all those slaughtered animals, that river of bloodthose divers washings? They testify to man's guilt, and separation from God, and the difficulty of access to him-while they open a way thither! And what but this is taught in Christian edifices and the Christian ordinances performed in them? Why do we there assemble together? Why hear the gospel preached? Why listen Sabbath after Sabbath to the Word of God? Why kneel around the sacred table, and partake of the memorial of redeeming love? Why? but because we all are sinners, vile and miserable, lost without Christ, and only kept in the right way by the healing grace

of God which thus visits us in his appointed means!

"With what feelings, then, of humiliation and sorrow should we contemplate a Christian sanctuary! We may decorate it with splendid masonry-lavish vast sums on its shrines, create a dim religious light,' by means of costly painted windows; and after we have done all, as we traverse the aisles of the stately cathedral, and muse upon the solemn scene around us, well may we exclaim, 'Whence is all this?' It is sin! Sin has raised this vast pile; it is a house of refuge for the guilty! What is this temple but a lazaretto for infected souls! What but an hospital for the reception of the halt, and the maimed, and the blind! It tells of benevolence and mercy, but it reminds us of our guilt and misery: and as when we contemplate some beautiful and extensive building-displaying the skill of the architect, and calculated to excite our highest admiration, and we ask-to what purpose is this building dedicated? and it is replied, 'It is a LUNATIC ASYLUM!' how, then, does our heart sicken! The edifice loses all its charms in our eyes-we turn away in sorrow, grieving more that man's calamity should need such an extensive receptable of misery, than rejoicing at the benevolence which has called it into existence: even so, a deeply pious and religious mind, contemplating the noble religious edifices of his native land, will rather mourn over the madness of sin, and the insanity of vice, which created the necessity for these houses of mercy-than feel disposed to vaunt himself in their beauty or magnificence! He never can forget that there was no temple in Paradise, and that there will be none in Heaven-because in Paradise and in Heaven there was no sin!

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Let, then, every student of ecclesiastical architecture, as he pursues his favourite subject, remember that the foundation of every religious structure in the world is laid deep in the corruptions of the human race-and that but for the sin and wickedness of man He had lost his occupation! He dwells among the tombs, he stumbles over the gravestones-while he searches out his favourite style; let him not forget, in the elaborated details of an earthly structure, to record in his heart ITS ORIGIN and ITS OBJECT!"

The writer then traces the erection of altars from that of Cain and Abel to that of Jacob. Then for two hundred years there is a blank in religious history, until God's people were called out of Egypt, soon after which the Tabernacle was ordered. It was not until the world was more than 3000 years old, that a local permanent building was erected to the worship of God. At length David projected one; but the Scriptures indicate "a remarkable unwillingness on the part of God to allow a permanent temple to be erected: not simply on the ground that David was a man of war and a soldier from his youth, but because the Lord foresaw the fearful superstitions which would take their rise from this source and flow down in baneful streams to the end of time. And it came to pass, the same night, that the word of God came to Nathan, saying, Go and tell David, My servant, thus saith the Lord, Thou shalt not build Me a house to dwell in. For I have not dwelt in a house since the day that I brought up Israel unto this day; but have gone from tent to tent and from one tabernacle to another. Wheresoever I have walked with all Israel, spake I a word to any of the Judges of Israel whom I commanded to feed my people, saying, Why have ye not built Me a house of cedars?" Whence it appears that the original suggestion was not a matter of revelation from God to David, but a spontaneous effusion of pious desire in David's own soul: a desire which he was compassionately allowed to cherish-which was subsequently taken under the special guidance of God Himself; who, while he would not allow David to accomplish it, encouraged him and instructed him to make suitable preparations, that his son Solomon might complete his design."

After the destruction of Solomon's temple, the people of God were left for seventy years and more, without altar, sacrifice, or holy place: at their restoration a second temple was erected, less glorious in its architectural adornments, but more so in its spiritual distinctions; for though God refused to dwell there, as he had in the first, yet he visited it in the person of Messiah.

"GOD was there—but not in pomp and circumstance as of old-not in cloud and majesty but veiled in human flesh-there He stood Incarnate Deity-IN HIM DWELT ALL THE FULLNESS OF THE GODHEAD BODILY,' or in a bodily form; IN A HUMAN BODY."

From this, Mr. Close takes occasion to show how that the body of Christ is the true temple, and how every true Christian is also a temple of the Holy Spirit. This is the doctrine which offends Romanist and Tractarian, but which is so dear to the Church of the Reformation and of Scripture.

"Each individual believer, perfectly in himself, is the temple of God-and all believers congregated together form one great, glorious, new covenant templeinhabited by GOD Himself-the only material building He recognises under the Gospel dispensation as actually possessed of His presence! In whom,' that is, in Christ, 'ye also, as lively,' or living, stones, are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God, by Jesus Christ.' St. Peter speaks not here of evangelists, or pastors, or teachers, as SACRIFICING PRIESTS-but he describes all individual spiritual believers as members of this mystical temple, containing in itself, SPIRITUALLY, all that was typically prefigured in the first temple. Holy incense ascending continually in the flame of Divine Love, which glows on the altar of a renewed heart, fragrant to God Himself; a sweet-smelling savour.' Know you not that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of GoD dwelleth in you?' What! know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God?"

Mr. Close affirms that this living spiritual building is the only one of which mention is made in the New Testament. The architectural phraseology of the apostles is always used in a spiritual sense. Such terms as tabernacle, habitation, house, altar, sacrifice, dwelling-place, sanctuary, temple, &c., abound; but in no single instance are they applied to anything but to the bodies and souls either of Christ or his people; to the spiritual Church, its head or its members. Our Saviour, by His own example, as well as by precept, was careful to indicate, "that the religion of sacred places was passing away." 'He preached and prayed in all places, and under all available circumstances. And when He would institute the Holy Sacrament of His body and blood, He did it not in the temple, but in a private house, in an upper chamber, in an obscure street in Jerusalem."

"Indeed, it would tax the ingenuity of the most ardent worshipper of Primitive Christian architecture, to discover one line in the New Testament to prove that separate, much less consecrated buildings were set apart, or intended to be set apart, during the lives of the holy apostles, for Christian worship. Such a custom, however becoming and needful in the subsequent ages of the Church, cannot therefore claim to be PRIMITIVE, apostoliCAL, OF SCRIPTURAL. As far as the inspired writings of the New Testament are concerned, we therefore re-affirm, that they recognise no TEMPLE but the spiritual one, which we have attempted to describe; and that upon the subject of CHRISTIAN CHURCH ARCHITECTURE they observe a remarkable and studied silence."

Against the imitation of antiquity in the decoration of modern churches, Mr. Close contests strongly, as reverting to benighted and corrupt periods for example. Want of space only prevents us from inserting Mr. Close's vigorous and able exposé of the architectural superstition which the Tractarians seek to revive; but we regret this the less, as a contributor is pursuing the subject in this Magazine, in his able papers on Symbolism.

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II. SHORT NOTICES.

The Law of Fasting, as contained in Holy Scripture and taught by the Church of England. By the Rev. J. B. MARSDEN, M.A. London: Hamilton.

THIS is a brochure by the author of the Discourses on the Festivals, to whom we are under promise for a more explicit notice of that elegant work; and in it he gives his opinion, that Fasting is recognised by the New Testament as well as the Old, but that it occupies a much lower place; moreover, prayer and charity to the poor must be its accompaniments.

An Answer to Anti-Supernaturalism. By J. R. PARK, M.D., F.L.S., M.R.I. This pamphlet is in answer to Dr. Strauss and Mr. Harwood, and is intended to show that Christianity affords ample proof of being a Divine revelation, without appeal to the testimony of the four Gospels; and that, therefore, the four Gospels must be more than mythical. Mr. Park, in the beginning of his work, viewed the opinions of Dr. Strauss through the works of Mr. Harwood, but in the end confesses that a subsequent perusal of the German professor's work had considerably altered his first impression. The fact is, that this entire question is misunderstood by English writers, and has an import here which it has not in Germany. Mr. Park depends upon the evidence of Prophecy, which, including the Apocalypse, he interprets spiritually.

A Course of Lectures. Part. II. By the Rev. FREDERICK DUSATOY. London: Nisbet.

We reviewed the first part of these lectures (ante, p. 106) and see no reason to reverse our favourable opinions. The present section contains five sermons; i. e., two on the General Confession, and three on the Public Absolution. The last three sermons deal with a very important theme, on which it will be perhaps, ere long, needful to enlarge.

On Causes of Death by Starvation. By J. L., late of the Colonial Service; with an Introduction by Viscount Ranelagh. London: Ollivier.

This is a pamphlet written by a foreigner on a subject of pressing and immediate importance in the present corrupt state of society in the metropolis.

Piety and Intellect relatively estimated. By HENRY EDWARDS, Ph.D. Second Edition. London: Simpkin.

This writer professes to distinguish between the claims of the saint and the scholar, and to give the preference to the former; in a word, he sets piety before learning. The theme is worked out in every possible way, with abundance of illustrations, and in a style of close ratiocination.

Remarks on Catechising in Conformity with the Rubric, &c. By Dr. SLADE,

Wolverhampton.

This is a plea for reasonable discretion on the part of the clergy in relation to the rubrical directions of the Prayer-book.

On Calculous Concretions in the Horse, Ox, Sheep, and Dog. By W. J. T. MORTON. In those days, but recently passed, when books were judged by the extent of their pages and the amount of their price-in those days when the smallest treatise was medium folio, and the humblest essay never less than royal quarto-in those days of scientific pomp and costly wordiness-such a work as this before us would have filled its quires and cost its guineas. It is as complete a treatise on the subject as could be desired: invaluable to the veterinary practitioner, curious and instructive to the medical man, interesting and important to the naturalist and physiologist. A mass of facts is compressed into a few pages; and the results of years of observ

ation and repeated analysis given in language which is elegant without affectation, and clear without diffuseness. It is a work amply illustrated by coloured engravings, and one which we cannot but predict will find a place in every medical library-a work far more valuable than many of the ample volumes which pretend to treat of comparative physiology, but which are for the most part made up of petty details that can lead to no possible deductions, or of minute microscopic appearances, that are evidently exaggerated for the sake of effect.

The general reader, to whom Mr. Morton, the skilful author, does not appeal, will in this small book find much matter that cannot fail to amuse him and elicit his sympathy; the philosopher, more that will be food for lofty speculation; while the Christian will perceive a fresh cause for adoration, in the evidence it gives of the care the Creator has bestowed on the meaner of his creatures, and the trust He has confided unto man, when He placed under his authority animals capable of sufferings so nearly akin to those of the human kind. It is at once a learned, a pleasing, and a humanising book, and one we cannot too strongly recommend.

V. CORRESPONDENCE.

[The Editor begs it to be understood that he does not hold himself responsible for the opinions stated in this department of the Magazine.]

ANCIENT CEREMONIES AND SUPERSTITIONS.

No. IV.

To the Editor of the Christian's Monthly Magazine and Universal Review.
SIR,

I proceed with those ancient ceremonies which were introduced into the Church during the third century. The last subject, or the 16th section, gave the distant origin of the intercession of saints.

Instead of

17th. About A.D. 240, the former kind of intercession was extended. beseeching the imprisoned martyrs to intercede with the Church for the remission of ecclesiastical censures and penalties, we find that many asked their prayers after death not their intercession with man while living only, but, further, their intercession with God when they should depart this life. And we even find that many Christians mutually stipulated one with the other, that the surviving friend might have an interest in the prayers of the one who should first join the spirits of the just made perfect. This superstition, though at first confined to a few, soon spread, and served to smooth the way for the introduction of the Popish doctrine of "The Intercession of the Saints." (Cypr. lib. v., Epist. 1, ad Cornel.)

18th. It was at this period that the Public Confession of Penitents, or a general confession before the Church, was converted into a particular confession to their respective pastors. This was to avoid that public exposure, and subsequent reproach, which resulted from more open confession. In these private confessions it was left optional with the pastor to make known the subjects of confession either in a general or particular form, according to his private judgement. (Origen, Hom. ii., in Ps. 37; Leo, Epist. 69; Sozom. lib. ix., cap. 35; Aug. de Symb. de Catech., lib. i., cap. 6.) About this time (260) arose the sect of the Novatians. Those who apostatised