CRITICAL NOTICES.

Martyria: a Legend, wherein are contained Homilies, Conversations and Incidents of the Reign of Edward the Sixth. Written by William Mountford, Clerk. London-John Chapman, Newgate Street. 1845.

To a person disposed to cavil at words, phrases and incidents, this work, like all others of the legendary genus, is open to many objections. We remember to have read in our youth the Life of John Buncle, a Unitarian romance, narrating many wonderful adventures, by land and flood, with ladies fair who could discourse knotty points of divinity, and with masters in theology and in fencing, none of whom could resist the all-prevailing influence of the great hero of the tale. With the halo around us of this recollection of the aforesaid John Buncle, Gent., we have not been able altogether to divest ourselves of the persuasion, that " Martyria, a Legend" is deficient in legendary power. It presents to us no thrilling terrors, no unheard-of situations of difficulty and danger, no artistical development of a plot carried through all the intricacies of a complicated series of events. In this respect, "Martyria" may be criticised in the author's own words, when he is speaking of Robert Henrysoun, the Scot:

66

"But yet,' said Sir Francis, holding up the book, 'it is a pretty vein of sentiment.'

"Vein! thread of thought you mean. The lines do not flow, they are stitched together.'

66 6

Willoughby, you are too severe on my Lady's Garment.'

"So I am. In truth I like the poem, apart from a little matter of taste.' Pp. 85, 86.

And in truth we also like the Legend, "apart from a little matter of taste." Perhaps the fairest and justest criticism on any work is to state the general impression which remains on the mind after an attentive reading. The little faults of diction, the little affectations of antiquity, the little hereabouts and thereabouts of the incidents and characters, are left to their natural imbecility, and do not for a moment stand in competition with the stalwart forms of strength, or the finely chiselled images of grace. So it is on reviewing the impressions which "Martyria, a Legend," wrought upon us: we forget when and where we raised the brow of surprise, or compressed the lip of intempestive criticism, or exclaimed, Bless me! is that a word of the Queen's English? in the before time I had not the honour of its acquaintance;—we forget these things, and remember the pleasure and the benefit of reading excellent truths excellently uttered.

There are indeed in the "Martyria" many noble thoughts most beautifully expressed : take as an example,

"The Reformation is worthless, but as it lifts the slaves of authority into that liberty wherewith Christ hath made disciples free; but as it rolls responsibility away from the steps of the Church to the door of each Christian's conscience." -P. 75.

And,

"There have been students among the socially proscribed, who have enlarged their minds into vast kingdoms, in which men of old time have been their noble, princely guests, and who have possessed themselves of the comforting belief, next in strength to that of their salvation, that they should share not only the acquaintance, but the warm love of their congenial authors; and who have forgotten the wrongs they were actually enduring, in pleasurable anticipations of Jeremy Taylor's society, Erasmus's look, and More's hearty welcome."

P. 120.

And again,

"On evergreen banks and amid beautiful scenery, we may not all inhabit,

and we cannot; but we may all do better, by each one of us opening in his soul a well of living water, springing up for us, into more than mortal life. There are many who have done it betimes, and who have experienced the stream of their lives running among the pleasantnesses of youth, through manhood, and along the road of old age, right into the ocean of eternity, and the last day as pure as ever, and as gladsome also and fresh to the feeling."-P. 154.

The Apologue of the Angels of Faith and Peace (p. 158) is, we think, full of beautiful instruction; and the Socratic discussion of subjects of deep interest interspersed through the work makes it in name a legend, but in reality a thought-rousing exposition of some of those great topics which a meditative mind loves to contemplate.

Master Asheton's sermon on marriage is well worth the study of all, gentle or simple, whether they have already lighted the hymeneal torch, or are only waiting at the temple-gate till it is their own turn to enter in. The solemn duties and joys of this most important and sacred relation of human life are represented with a nervous and manly simplicity; and instead of that mawkish sentimentality which weaklings in their art would have perpetrated, our author has indited a homily abounding in sound thought, the exposition of a truthful and loving spirit. Buy, then, the book, ye lords and ladies! that ye may continue to govern your households with a godly fear. Buy the book, ye brides and bridegrooms! and learn the instruction of wisdom. Buy the book, young men and maidens!—then, peradventure, ye will not defile the marriage vow at the very altar by appearing to countenance a faith and worship ye do not believe. Ye may have a trinket less, but ye will have a gem more: remember that gem is Master Asheton's discourse anent Matrimony, the which if ye read, mark and inwardly digest, ye will have wherewith to make the longest life a honeymoon, the sear and yellow leaf of age being rich with the unfading flowers of forbearing and faithful love.

We would also particularize as eminently beautiful the character of the blind old man, Master John Welburn, who though he "can no longer see the sun," thanks God that he can "feel it still and further into the soul's depths than formerly." There he is, so placid, sitting in his oak chair in the golden light of the setting sun, doubting only "whether there ever was a blind man who disbelieved the being of a God.”

And Master Willoughby Brandon,—him, too, we admire, and what he converses of with his friends, Sir Francis Farel and Mistress Bouchier and Mistress Emma and Mistress Jane. If such people really lived in the reign of our good King Edward the Sixth, why then the Reformation from Popery bore richer and choicer fruits than usually belong to the transition-stage of opinions. They are Israelites indeed, in whom there is no guile;-better than Israelites, they are the disciples of that Master whom to know is to love, and whom to love is to adore with a reverence second only to that which we pay to the Father of mercies. In them and their compeers we trace the excellences of a living faith; the spirit of the gospel temples in their hearts; and its glorious words give them the foretaste of eternity.

Friend Willoughby's days are at their close-his trial of faith is come; in a few hours his pure soul shall ascend to Him who gave it; yet no misgivings of God's infinite love harass his mind. "In the last hours of life," are his own words, “remember thou art not companionless; for in the neighbouring town, and in every city of every kingdom, agony for agony, weakness for weakness, breath for breath, there is brotherhood with thee; but the brotherhood that has a suffering earth for its extent, has and must have a rejoicing heaven for its home."-P. 365.

Were it only in return for the pleasure and instruction we have derived from the work, we should wish it God-speed!--but its healthy tone of morals, of devotion and of doctrine, still more make us desire its success. Few, even if they dissent from the author's views of the priesthood and the church, will refrain from admiring the kindly spirit and the earnest feeling which pervade

these scriptures respecting an earlier age. They are rich in the best historical allusions, and by the temper and freshness with which they discuss many topics of high interest, offer to the young especially a source of pure and enlivening instruction.

Exercises in Composition-Exercises in Orthography-Exercises in Mental Arithmetic. By Henry Hopkins, A. M. London-Relfe and Fletcher.

THESE three elementary books of education are judicious in plan and well executed, and bear marks of having been written by one practically acquainted with his subjects. They have a merit sometimes neglected in school-books, being printed in a bold type, and are moderate in price.

SINGLE SERMONS.

1. The Faith of the Unitarian Christian explained, justified and distinguished: a Discourse delivered at the Dedication of the Unitarian Church, Montreal, on Sunday, May 11, 1845. By Ezra S. Gannett. 8vo. Pp. 40. Boston. 2. The Convent and the Railway, or our own Days and those of our Fathers: a Sermon preached in the Westgate Chapel, Lewes, on Sunday, November 9, 1845, &c. By Rev. Samuel Wood, B. A. 8vo. Pp. 20. LondonChapman.

3. The Voice of Warning: a Sermon preached at Mead-Row Chapel, Godalming, October 12, 1845. By Edwin Chapman. 12mo. Pp. 18. London -Chapman.

4. The Blood of Sprinkling: a Sermon delivered in the Domestic Mission Chapel, Bristol. By the Rev. W. James, one of the Ministers of Lewin'sMead Meeting. Published by request. 8vo. Pp. 20. London-Chapman. OUR limited space compels us to review the excellent occasional sermons named above very briefly.

In No. 1, Dr. Gannett has given us a fine model of a popular harangue. To his Unitarian hearers, his justification of their faith could not but be interesting and satisfactory; to orthodox hearers, the explanation of Unitarian views, and especially of their distinctive marks from other religious systems, must have given light, if not conviction. The topics selected by Dr. Gannett, after a brief explanation of Unitarian Christianity, are, 1, its justification in human nature; 2, its foundation on Scripture; 3, its moral influences. He vindicates the applicability of Unitarian Christianity to men in all the stages of civilization.

"Not to men of thoughtful and retired habits alone is it adapted. The humblest and plainest of England's population whom Richard Wright on his missionary tours visited in their rural homes, and the lowest among the inhabitants of a busy metropolis in the United States whom the ministry at large has searched out and gathered into the fold of Christ, can attest the efficacy of these doctrines. Nor is it, on the other hand, less unjust to represent this faith as one which can recommend itself only to persons of little intellectual power or spiritual discernment. * * When such men as Socinus and Servetus, Newton and Locke, Priestley and Wakefield, and Buckminster and Channing, have cherished those tenets of an unpopular theology, it is idle to call it a religion only for gross or indolent minds."-P. 21.

In the second portion of his discourse, in which Dr. Gannett shews how Unitarianism is distinguished from the several forms of unbelief and misbelief, he is particularly happy, and the advantages and beauty of our religious system are made to stand out in bold relief. He shews, first, the broad gulf there is between Unitarianism and infidelity of every form, and in doing so argues for the inseparable connection of spiritual and historical Christianity. He then proceeds to shew that we are separated from Trinitarians by our doctrine concerning God; from Calvinists, by our doctrine concerning man; from them

and other orthodox sects, by our view of the atonement; from Roman Catholics, by our doctrine respecting authority in matters of religion; from Episcopalians, by our opinions respecting the ministry; from Baptists, by our doctrine concerning ordinances; from Methodists, by our disapprobation of excitement; from Universalists, by our doctrine of retribution. În pp. 35, 36, our author dwells with animating unction on the practical and life-guiding characteristics of Unitarian Christianity, and then admirably says,

"Let it go into the world with this doctrine, and let the commentary be furnished by us in the growing holiness of our lives, and our faith will leap from crag to crag of society, and dart down into its lowly coverts, and bathe its whole expanse with a divine influence, even as the morning light glances and spreads and rests over the whole landscape."—P. 37.

May we not hope to see this admirable sermon in an English reprint? It richly deserves it, and would surely soon repay the cost.

For No. 2, we are indebted to our ingenious and public-spirited countryman, Rev. Samuel Wood. It is a happy specimen of an occasional sermon. In cutting the Brighton and Lewes railway, near to the latter town, (where Mr. Wood now discharges his ministerial duties,) "the workmen discovered two leaden coffers, each containing the bones of a human body." There was inscribed on one "Willelmus;" "Gundrada" on the other. These are supposed to be the remains of Gundred, daughter of William the Conqueror, and of her husband, which were in the years 1085 and 1088 interred in the chapter-house of the Priory of St. Pancras at Lewes, a monastery founded, in 1078, by Gundred's husband, William, first Earl of Warrenne. The site of the chapterhouse was revealed by this discovery. In this sermon we have Mr. Wood's reflections on these singular discoveries. He puts in forcible contrast the rude and the more advanced civilization of the eleventh and the nineteenth century, taking the Convent as the symbol of the former, and the Railway of the latter. In what spirit Mr. Wood has executed his task, our readers may judge for themselves from the following passage:

"Little did the founder of that Priory think, when he denounced 'the sword of God's anger and an eternal curse' against the man who should invalidate the provisions of his charter; little did he think that after the lapse of a few centuries the whole order of things would be changed-that the charm of ecclesiastical authority would vanish—that the fraternity of monks and friars which he had brought together, would be cast to wander on the wide world without the shelter of a home; and that those very walls which he had reared as a sanctuary for the religious and an almonry for the needy, would be devastated and laid waste, and their most precious materials sold for what they were worth, to satisfy the questionable faith of a tyrannical monarch, and to fill the coffers of an ambitious minister. Little did he think that the fashion of piety and benevolence would utterly change; and that in the course of revolving years, they who wished, as he did, to save their souls and have their sins forgiven, would no longer devote their wealth to building houses where the religious might live in lordly ease, and dispense their charity with the munificence of princes, but would expend it in teaching men to respect themselves-in softening the rigours of the law, and reclaiming the criminal to the love and practice of all Christian virtue-in breaking the fetters of the slave-protesting against the injustice of offensive war-and carrying home the sweet influences of knowledge, science, and religion, to the very outcasts of society, whether in their own or in foreign lands."-Pp. 7—9.

In No. 3, Mr. Chapman improves a fatal calamity which lately occurred in Godalming, and the scene of which was a public-house. The voice of warning which he utters is an earnest appeal touching righteousness, temperance and judgment to come. He has skilfully avoided the faults and errors into which some preachers would have been led by such a subject. There is nothing of uncharitable judgment, nothing of fanatical condemnation of things innocent in themselves, while there is abundance of Christian earnestness and Christian

charity. It is a true Temperance tract, vastly superior to some well-meant compositions that bear that name.

In No. 4, Mr. James proves himself to be a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. He belongs to that sound, oldfashioned school of Unitarian divines, who not only look to Scripture as the guide of their faith, but believe that patient research will extract from even the more difficult portions of Holy Writ clear and consistent doctrine. We have in this sermon a very lucid explanation of some of the language of the Epistle to the Hebrews, that "orthodox" interpreters commonly adduce in support of the Atonement. We can honestly congratulate the author of this discourse on his skill in making the light of reason to shine on what has by some been represented, and by others made, a dark place in the New Testament. In a right evangelical spirit, Mr. James magnifies the important results of the death of Jesus, as the crowning proof of his divine mission, and the brightest feature in our Lord's character. We regret we have no room for an

extract.

PERIODICALS.

The Westminster Review, No. LXXXVII., December, 1845.-The fact that nearly one-half of this Review is occupied by three theological articles, whatever may be its influence on the general reader, entitles it to our attention. The article on German Theology is an admirable summary of the state of religious parties in Germany, and of the efforts of Strauss to destroy and of Ronge to reform religion. What space we can give to this article must be devoted to two extracts respecting Ronge. All that the reviewer says of him is excellent, and well deserves the attention of readers who have access to the Review. Ronge in Youth.

"John Ronge was born on the 16th of October, 1813, at Bishopswalde, in the district of Neisse, a principality of which the greater portion belongs to Prussia, the smaller to Austria, subject to the Bishop of Breslau, who, up to the year 1820, was master of the whole. Ronge's father possessed a small landed estate, but he had eight children, who, in consequence of their parents' narrow means, were obliged to labour for their subsistence. John, until his twelfth year, was employed in keeping sheep. His condition afforded little opportunity for instruction, except in the long nights of winter, when out-of-door occupations were impossible. Yet the mental cultivation of the boy was not at a complete stand-still. A shepherd's life is especially fitted to foster the tendencies of a poetical temperament, and though instruction was sparing enough, yet it afforded the first materials for thought, which might be and were successfully improved in the solitudes of the field. Ronge had received some training at the hands of the Church, and employed himself, while tending his flock, with reading the Bible and in religious meditation. In his subsequent education, he distinguished himself by successful diligence, having formed a desire to employ his energies in the Christian priesthood. Catholicism had the advantage that it furnished means which the poverty of the family denied. Accordingly, though Ronge was poor, he was enabled to proceed, in 1827, to the Grammar-school of Neisse, and in 1837, to the High-school, or College, of Breslau. His demeanour in both institutions was blameless. As a scholar, no less than as a student, he led a quiet and simple life, little noticed by his companions, but occupied with the study of history, and, at a later period, of theology. These pursuits increased his preference of a sacred calling. In political matters, he took the celebrated historian Rotteck for his guide, who awakened in Ronge a strong love of that free thinking by which his own writings are characterized. Entire tranquillity of mind did not fall to his lot. From time to time, doubts arose within him whether he should be able to fulfil the demands which the predominant party made on every new spiritual teacher; but he suppressed these solicitudes, and ascribed them to suggestions made to him by well-meaning, but, as he then considered them, unwise friends. The earnest desire of his parents to see him enter on his clerical duties, kept him on the road that led to the Church. He