thoughts. Old Izaak Walton, who has done most for his fame, said of his books,

And again, in the Life of Donne, he speaks of " that man of primitive piety, Mr. George Herbert, who was the author of The Temple, a book in which by declaring his own spiritual conflicts, he hath comforted and raised many a dejected and discomposed soul, and charmed them into sweet and quiet thoughts; a book, by the frequent reading whereof, and the assistance of that spirit that seemed to inspire the author, the reader may attain habits of peace and piety, and all the gifts of the Holy Ghost and heaven; and may, by still reading, still keep those sacred fires burning upon the altar of so pure an heart, as shall free it from the anxieties of the world, and keep it fixed upon things that are above."

The literary merit of Herbert as a poet, lies in a sentiment always ardent and sincere, uttered in bold language, and not unfrequently adorned by a vigorous fancy. Much of what he wrote in verse his admirers must allow might have been equally well expressed in prose, though he occasionally rose to great dignity, and not seldom attained a graceful musical expression. With half the soul and poetic temperament possessed by Herbert, a writer of less ability, by a more judicious use of his inferior powers, might have obtained a wider reputation. This consideration will not detract with the liberal student from Herbert's merits, since he will prefer strength with harshness to mere polished elegance. When he has penetrated the rough exterior, he will meet his reward in the soul within, possessed of more warmth and sincerity from its very outward ruggedness. The writer who desires only to please, must often sacrifice his own individual character; but Herbert wrote as he felt, and therefore pleases the judicious reader the better. They who look on literature as a drawing-room amusement, to while away an idle hour, attaining its greatest effort in the excitement of the passions, and its best quality in the passing entertainment of the moment, will find but little to admire in Herbert. He will disappoint the man of exclusive nicety in letters. His writings are very unequal, and to be read more for the sense than the style. The exercise of his fancy was wayward and capricious; it alighted on every remote idea for an illustration of its subject, and ungoverned by taste, frequent

ly united in the same composition the simple and real with the grotesque and extravagant. In some lucky happy humour of the author's mind, the stanzas will flow on with a succession of the most appropriate and beautiful images, till they are suddenly arrested by a low conceit, which almost checks the poetic feeling of the whole poem. Herbert was defic'ent in judgment and taste, and hence heaped together in his writings an irregular collection of beauties and defects. But there is more in the author than is seen upon a first glance, and it is not till the reader becomes acquainted with the man, and enters into the spirit of his piety, that the true beauties of his writings appear; like Woodsworth's retired poet,

You must love him ere to you
He will seem worthy of your love.

His life is the best key to his verse.
"George Herbert," says
Coleridge, “is a true poet; but a poet sui generis, the merits of
whose poems will never be felt without a sympathy with the
mind and character of the man. To appreciate him, it is not
enough that the reader possesses a cultivated judgment, clas-
sical taste or even poetic sensibility, unless he be likewise a
Christian, and both a zealous and an orthodox, both a de-
vout and a derotional, Christian. But even this will not
quite suffice. He must be an affectionate and dutiful child
of the Church; and from habit, conviction and a constitu-
tional predisposition to ceremoniousness, in piety as in man-
ners, find her forms and ordinances aids of religion, not sources
of formality; for religion is the element in which he lives and
the region in which he moves."

It is not however, as a poet that we take most delight in contemplating the character of Herbert. He possessed indeed, as we have seen, much fancy, and sometimes rose to the higher dignity of verse; but he was content even to sacrifice Literature and the Muses for a better reward. He laid these prospects of his pen with his hopes of state preferment at the foot of the altar, to devote himself with a life-long zeal purely to the cause of his Master. Imbued by a University education with a love of letters, and accustomed to train his thoughts in the quaint individual conceits of the day, he could not but retain some fondness for the poet's study. But he left the fair delights of the world, the glorious outward shows of poetry, for the cultivation of his spirit in those inner graces and virtues of the heart which shall flourish in amaranth when all the poor pageants of time have faded; he carried on a severe struggle with himself in retirement, whether to turn his face away from the court, where he had spoken before princes and become the

intimate of the king. Yet more than a courtier; as a scholar he was surrounded by a train of wits and students, whose names awake a freshening sound even at this distant time. "He had gazed on faces whose lustre has not yet faded into the common day. Never had the university been the home of more beloved and gifted children since the time when Spenser pursued his 'sweet silent studies' in the quiet of Pembroke Hall. At Christ's there was Milton the 'Lady of his College'; the courtly Fanshaw, the translator of the Paster Fido, was a member of Jesus; Jeremy Taylor, then a beautiful youth, was a poor Sizar of Caius; Herrick enlivened St. John's with his festivity and wit; Giles Fletcher was at Trinity, and his brother Phineas at King's; the celebrated Calamy and the historian Fuller, even in his boyhood a prodigy of learning; and Mede, the profoundest Scripture critic of the age."* Herbert was content to renounce the society of these great spirits, and leave untasted the delicious draughts he had raised to his lips. The courtier, fond of dress and exulting in the smile of royal favour, laid aside his embroidered coat and sword, to assume the humble vestments of the priest. He devoted the short remainder of his life in retirement at the parsonage of Bemerton. Here he practised his deeds of faith and charity (so well recorded by Walton) in an earnestness for the cause of the Church, a devotion to the glory of his master, and humble prostration of himself in lowliness and humility. The Temple is a private volume of thoughts and reflections, kept as a journal of the heart. It was a pious adversaria of the daily history of his life, the diary of a traveller toward a better land in heaven. He sought not to turn periods or invent compliments for the amusement of the Court. He cast his glance not towards Parnassus, but Zion. The phrase of poetry was only a sublimated form, to give words to the operations of his soul. Nor did his devotion to piety produce the ordinary effect of great zeal in a misanthropy or intolerance of error; he pitied the sinner and rebuked the sin. In the seclusion of his chamber, his mortified life resembled the severity of the monastery; but he only copied the good and holy life without the gloomy austerity. He clothed himself in Aaron's robe :

Holiness on the head,

Light and perfections on the heart;

Harmonious bells below, raising the dead

To lead them unto life and rest.

Lives of Sacred Poets, by Robert Aris Willmott, Esq., of Trinity College, Cambridge; London, 1834.

His piety was adorned by many cheerful thoughts and happy daily observances. The Rectory of Bemerton is a sunlight picture before the mind, the rustic abode of the village pastor. We turn from the noisy evil of life to bathe the soul in the delicious and holy stillness of the quiet rectory, to keep a sacred Sabbath of the heart. As old Aubrey predicted, "Tis an honour to the place to have had the heavenly and ingenuous contemplation of this good man."

ART. VI.—Die Unwissenschaftlicheit im Gebiete der Alttestamentlichen Kritik, belegt aus den Schriften neurer Kritiker, besonders der Herren Von Bohlen und Vatke: von D. MORITZ DRECHSTER. Leipzig: 1837. 8vo. pp. 184. (The want of Literary Character in the province of Old Testament Criticism, illustrated from the writings of the later Critics, particularly Von Bohlen and Vatke: by DR. MAURICE DRECHSTER.)

Al

OUR readers are undoubtedly aware that a system of infidelity, distinguished by the name of rationalism, has long pervaded most of the theological schools of Germany, and exerted a very extensive influence on the interpretation of Scripture, as well as on the view in which the word of God is held. though, indeed, it may be said to have swayed the leading theologians of that country, it must not be supposed that its influence has been universal. The unsoundness of its fundamental principles, its identity with what was formerly called naturalism, which resolved all religious knowledge and influence into the effects of natural causes, has been publicly maintained, with learning and acuteness not surpassed by the very chief of its apostles. Dr. Augustus Hahn introduced the subject as the ground-work of a public disputation at Leipzig ten years ago, since which time particularly, the rationalists have been opposed by some of the ablest scholars that Germany ever produced. Indeed, there have never been wanting defenders of the truth, equal at least in talents and learning to their opponents, though confessedly inferior in numbers. Tittmann defended the cause of revelation, in a work on supernaturalism, rationalism, and atheism, published at Leipzig in 1816; and, in 1821, Zollick in his letters on supernaturalism, replied to the work of Röhr, which, in 1813, had been published in defence of rationalism. Hahn's

book is entitled: De Rationalismi, qui dicitur vera indole, et qua cum naturalismo contineatur ratione. The literature of this controversy is given in Hagenbach's Encyklopedie, Leiɔ. 1833, p. 93, 94, comprising also those publications which were intended to have a mediating influence. Among the men ،، valiant for the truth ، in the midst of a perverse and crooked generation," the name of Drechster must now be prominent. The little work before us shows his views as a thinking man, and his feelings as a christian, zealous for the cause of his master, in reference to the treatment which the Bible has received from the party against whom he has entered the lists. A paragraph from his Preface will intimate to the reader what he is to expect:—

،، There is, doubtless, in our native land of Germany, many a candidate for the ministry, and indeed many a clergyman, who, without having unconditionally surrendered himself to Christ by faith, yet knows not how to acquiesce in the results of modern criticism. On the one hand are the impressions which the reading of the Holy Scriptures has called forth in his mind, and the sense of want and desire which the purifying experience of life has gradually formed in him. The obligations imposed on him by his office afford also an important consideration. He cannot bring himself to such a joyous and confident faith as he could wish, because the results of higher criticism are too apparent, and the literary character of its leaders too distinguished to be neglected. Yet, on the other hand, he cannot relinquish his faith, or at least his earnest desire to be able to exercise it; for his heart is too poor in itself, and he has tasted too much of the treasures which lie hid in Christ."

"To afford peace to such an one, by attempting to satisfy his mind on real literary grounds," is the object of his book; and it may well be be believed with the author, "that the powerful blessing of God's grace will not be wanting."

The undertaking was suggested to his mind while lecturing on Genesis, and the works of Von Bohlen and Vatke coming to his hands, induced him to publish, as a separate treatise, an enlarged section of a work which he had been preparing. Thus the volume before us anticipates the appearance of a more extensive publication.

Illustrative of the manner in which the rationists exhibit the statements made in the Bible, and endeavour to set them on the same footing with the early accounts of other nations, the representation of Von Bohlen, in his Introduction preceding his exposition of Genesis may serve as a specimen.

"It is well known," says Von Bohlen, "that all the nations of antiquity possessed accounts of the early history of mankind, of the increase and extension of the human race, and