thy passion, hast sustained. We may behold and see; but all the glorious spirits in heaven cannot look into the depth of this suffering.... Do but look yet a little into the passions of this his passion. "Then having traced the detail, he adds, "Who then shall comfort Him? Himself? Sometimes our own thoughts find a way to succour us, unknown to others: no; not Himself. Doubtless, as says Aquinas, the influence of the higher part of the soul was restrained from the aid of the inferior: My soul is filled with evils. Who then? his Father? here, here was his hope; If the Lord had not holpen me, my soul had almost dwelt in silence: I and my Father are one. But now, alas! He, even He, delivers Him into the hands of his enemies: when He hath done, turns His back upon Him as a stranger: yea, He woundeth Him as an enemy. The Lord would break Him," &c. So again, in the Contemplations. "But, alas! what flea-bitings were these, in comparison of those inward torments, which thy soul felt in the sense and apprehension of thy Father's wrath for the sins of the whole world, which now lay heavy upon Thee for satisfaction! This, oh this was it, that pressed thy soul, as it were, to the nethermost hell. . . . Thou, the Second Adam, stoodst for mankind upon this tree of the cross, as the First Adam stood and fell for mankind under the tree of offence. Thou barest our sins: thy Father saw us in thee, and would punish us in thee: thee, for us. We might quote much more to the like effect; but this may suffice to shew the hinge of the question, the precise point to which we think Mr. H.'s views do not fully reach, touching the nature and extent of the Redeemer's sufferings. And, hence, what we should call a cold and inadequate application of the subject, the placing our sufferings in juxta-position with those of our Lord as a fellow-sufferer, rather than the isolation of what in this instance was peculiar to himself as our surety, and as bearing our sins in His own body on the tree. Defective views on this point are nearly akin to others which characterize a certain school of theology and to that school, we fear, the author of the volume before us belongs. The question we have mooted may be a question of degree: but we hold, nevertheless, that it is a question of high importance.

We must not allow ourselves to enter, in the way of discussion, upon other points; except just to refer to the sermon "On the Degree of Honour due to the Virgin," which on the whole is an excellent one. We must, however, object to the following apologetic passage which opens the very next sermon.

"But with all this silence respecting her, we may be assured that her life was one of simple and chastest purity: purity in thought as in deed: purity

in heart as in hand: purity in every conceivable sense in which a mortal, born in sin, can be accounted pure. Such a degree of purity, indeed, we may well believe was hers, as had never been exhibited by any created being: ana never, probably, will be attained to by any merely human soul."

An hypothesis like this is both baseless and dangerous. It has been in many minds the germ of an idolatrous veneration, and has more to do than may at first sight appear with the superstitions of those "beautiful times" celebrated by Frederick Faber-"times" "...... from whose calm bosom sprung Abbeys and chantries, and a very host Of quiet places upon every coast,

Where Christ was served, and blessed Mary sung."

Not that we suspect Mr. H. of symbolizing with the extreme school out of which Mr. F. Faber has naturally stepped into the embrace of Rome: but we fear these modified apologetic statements are little calculated to stem the swelling torrent of Romanized theology, which still threatens to bear down the protecting barriers of our Anglican Church. We could much wish to see men like Mr. H. assume a bolder tone, and oppose the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, to the heretical dogmas which are the scandal of our age. "The paramount importance of religion, not only as an individual but as a national concern," imperatively demands this; and though we have felt it our duty to point out what we have thought great and serious defects in Mr. Hildyard's testimony, as an accredited representative of our Church and University, we are happy to believe that he is not uninfluenced by a jealous concern for the integrity of our institutions, or a becoming zeal for the maintenance of our national Christianity. We have great pleasure in appending the following extracts, as exhibiting, on the whole (with others that might be quoted), a more sound and healthy tone than those we have already given, though we could still wish for a little more decision.

Mr. H. thus closes his sermon on "The Law of Christ a Law of Liberty."

"Far be it from us, my Christian brethren, to make that application of our Lord's remark (Ís it lawful to heal on the sabbath-day?') which may possibly present itself to some minds in connexion with topics of the day.

"Far be it from us to judge others, in matters at the best indifferent; at the worst, subversive of unity and peace, charity and love.

"To our own Master we stand or fall.' But, oh, let us never overlook that there was an age in our Church's history when things indifferent did so usurp the place of things essential: when shadows so displaced substance: and forms and observances so overlaid the reality of religion, as well nigh to put in jeopardy the faith itself. Let us not forget, that in that age many a holy martyr shed his blood for the truth, as it is in Jesus, at the hands of men erring in the very sin we have to-day heard Him so severely denouncing.

"Remember, too, that the Pharisees did not become 'formalists' in a day. They were found so, indeed, by our Lord: but they had become so by the slow and gradual adulteration of many an age. The seeds of their declension were sown, when they first began to magnify forms into realities, and to place a superstitious reliance on fasts and ceremonies, sacrifices, and lustrations, till by dint of long usage (unnoticed by the world-imperceptibly even to themselves), they were led at last to glide from this beginning, into the strong delusion' with which our Saviour found them possessed, whereby they could even believe a lie,' and think that they did God service' in sacrificing to their intolerance the Lord and Giver of life itself.

6

"He charged them, as we saw, not so much with intentional as with superinduced blindness: a blindness of the intellect which made them really believe that God would receive the outward form in place of the hidden man of the heart; that he would accept those types and ceremonies which he had vouchsafed as assistants and handmaids to religion (and a means through which grace might be conveyed to the souls of the faithful), in lieu of the fruits of the Spirit, a life of holiness, the essential evidences of grace working by faith."-(pp. 171-173.)

The following passage, (with which we conclude,) gives us an impressive view of our national responsibilities and danger:

"that

"Whole kingdoms and empires there have been," observes Mr. H., have proved to the world what it is to become 'fools' in this sense, by not 'considering,' or not 'understanding,' that they owed all their prosperity, all their greatness, to God. And history goes yet further to tell us how, in consequence of this 'folly,' they have been cut off in the midst of their glory, and blotted out from the map of ages. Like Babylon of old, they have said in the pride of their power, and mightiness of their dominion, 'I shall be a lady for ever; so that they did not lay these things to their heart, neither did they remember their latter end.' But, as the prophet to Babylon, so the word of God has been sent unto them, saying, "Therefore hear now this, thou that art given to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, that sayest in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me: I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children.' But these two things shall come to thee in a moment, in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood, they shall come upon thee.' But in vain has the warning voice come to them: in vain have the prophets prophesied, in vain the word of God preached: "Their unwise men would not consider, and their fools could not understand it; and their end was to be cast away, their 'candlestick' to be 'removed,' and they themselves to be rooted out at the last.

66

May their fall be our warning, my brethren! Never was this country in a state of greater peril, because never in a state of greater prosperity, greater security, than now.

"We say not the danger is immediate; if it were so, you would not need the word of God to put you on your guard. But the seeds of danger are being scattered thick about you. 'While men slept, the enemy came, and sowed tares among the wheat.'

"'Riches' are fast 'increasing,' and men are 'setting' their 'hearts upon them,' contrary to the word of God.

"With her millions and millions of capital, and thousands of her citizens 'realizing' (as it is called) 'fortunes' in a single year, it may be in a single week or month, our country's peril is not small of becoming unwise among the people,' and, like a fool, ceasing to understand.'

"With her rapid progress in arts, in luxury, in self-indulgence, in magnificence, her danger, believe me, is not small, of forgetting or neglecting God and her Saviour, and so bringing down upon her the curse of nations, as of individuals, the curse of too uninterrupted peace. This is the time of her

greatest trial, an hour more likely to be fatal to her happiness, than when the enemy were abroad upon her seas, and the sound of war was heard in her gates.

66

Tyre, and Babylon, and Jerusalem, and Carthage, and Athens, and Rome, fell not by war, but by peace.

"The seven cities of Asia, where the seven true churches were first founded, fell away, not by the hand of an outward foe, but by their own. And so may it be with us, if we consider not, nor understand: it may be, that we too in our turn (which God forbid) may be thrust aside as 'a ruinous heap,' and become a bye-word and reproach to them that hate us: passing by, and wagging their heads, and saying, ‘Thou art then fallen, queen of the islands!' How is she become solitary that was full of people! how is she become as a widow! She that was great among the nations, and princess among the provinces, how is she become tributary!' 'All her gates are desolate her adversaries are the chief: her enemies prosper. For the Lord hath afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions: her beauty is departed: all that honoured her despise her. She remembered not her last end, therefore she came down wonderfully."―(pp. 94—96.)

We thank Mr. H. for this faithful warning: and sincerely hope that in addressing himself to "ears polite," he may become increasingly mindful of the responsibility which lies upon him as a minister of Christ, and a steward of the mysteries of God. It is an awful charge-" They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace: when there is no peace."

LETTERS ON THE CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE OF IRELAND. By THOMAS CAMPBELL FOSTER, Esq., of the Middle Temple, Barrister-at-Law. Reprinted by permission, with Additions and Copious Notes, from "The Times" newspaper. London: Chapman and Hall. 1846.

WHEN a popular writer of romance seeks for a subject on which he hopes to awaken the interest of his readers, he often chooses a portion of history where contending parties or opposing races have divided a nation by their rivalry: this gives his imagination full scope for throwing out national characters in strong contrast to each other, and colouring the picture so as to show each individual as possessing not only a personal identity, but as also exhibiting the marked peculiarities of his country. This is the great field of romance which Sir Walter Scott has so effectively cultivated; the difference between the habits of the Highlands and the Lowlands furnishes points of character for several of his earlier novels; the accession of James the First, and the influx of all ranks of Scotch adventurers into London, forms the interest of the "Fortunes of Nigel;" and the discontent of the Saxons, unused to the yoke of the Norman invaders, has opened a wonderful source of entertainment, when wrought up into the splendid romance of "Ivanhoe."

Modern improvements, and the facilities of travelling, have done much to soften down the distinction of national manners. If natives of North Britain, Wales, and England happen to dine together, their peculiarities are only a matter of jest to their friends and themselves; and perhaps we should never discover any difference in their country, but for some sly allusion to sheep'shead or toasted cheese. The author of "Sybil, or the Two Nations," endeavours to demonstrate that the rich and the poor of England are distinct from each other: there are certainly wide differences between them, but the term "two nations" is too strong, and even Mr. D'Israeli himself is obliged to admit this; for when his wise men of each class come to compare sentiments, they find they are virtually agreed, and as Dr. Johnson would have made his little fishes talk like whales, so the author of " Sybil " cannot help making the more virtuous of his Chartists talk in the language of gentlemen. In England there is a community of interest in all ranks, though some may foolishly forget it; all Englishmen are subject to the same laws, to which they have themselves agreed; and if, in some cases the rich endeavour to